NEW analysis has found that over £23 billion worth of welfare benefits went unclaimed in the last year.
The report, by Policy in Practice, found that the number had risen from £19bn the year before and that figures could be closer to £30bn if it were to analyse disability benefits and discretionary support.
Universal credit is the most unclaimed benefit at £8.3bn, with an estimated 1.4 million missing out on this type of support.
This is followed by carer’s allowance (£2.3bn), pension credit (£2.2 bn) and child benefit (£1.7 bn).
The analysis said that most claimants are simply unaware that certain benefits exist and cited navigating complex criteria as a serious barrier.
The report comes as household debt rises to £8.8bn a year.
Policy in Practice managing director Jade Alsop said: "Our findings show that as a society, we can’t afford not to consider these measures to prevent further costs to our health, education and social care services.
“It is estimated that, by improving pension credit take-up alone, the cost of social care will decrease by £4bn a year.”
Claire Atchia McMaster, director of income and external affairs at anti-poverty charity Turn2Us, said that feedback they receive indicates that accessing benefits is “complicated, inaccessible and emotionally draining.”
She said: “This complexity prevents millions from claiming vital support, exacerbating financial insecurity and impacting wellbeing.”
Ms McMaster called for clearer action from the government to ensure support reaches everyone who needs it.
Benefit calculators can be accessed on the Turn2Us and Policy in Practice websites.
Considering the recent and ongoing attack on benefits, people really need to have a better idea of just how much the government is already, very deliberately, getting out of paying what it owes its people, and this doesn’t even take in to account disability benefits, which are some of the highest, as well as most difficult to get (and which it is well documented have caused thousands of deaths, either from their illness/disability while waiting for their claim to be approved, or by suicide caused by deliberate systemic cruelty).
They won’t stop until we’re all dead, in work camps, or debtors prisons.
This is one of the arguments for a basic income. When means tests are put into place you get those who qualify not getting it because they can’t deal with the red tape and worse you get folks who can navigate the red tape and game the system well getting it who might not actually qualify getting it (not saying it happens a lot just saying it happens period). End result is those who need it are not getting it possibly causing more cost on the healthcare system and such.
