Serious benefits - Citizens Advice

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The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing information and advice, and by influencing policymakers. High quality advice and information is delivered from over 2000 outlets across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as by telephone, via the Internet, by email and through the media. Citizens Advice Bureaux deal with over 1.6 million social security problems each year and check that all eligible benefits and tax credits are being received by their clients. In addition, many run benefit take-up campaigns to ensure that local people are receiving the benefits and tax credits to which they are entitled. Published in April 2003 by Citizens Advice, 115-123 Pentonville Road, London N1 9LZ Citizens Advice is an operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. Registered charity number 279057. Additional copies of Serious benefits can be downloaded or ordered at www.citizensadvice.org.uk or on 020 7833 7054 This issue of CAB News was researched and written by Miranda Kemp and designed by Matt Bellamy. Photo credits: Front cover Getty Images, p4 Luton Borough Council; p5 Association for London Government; p6 Justin Piperger; p7 NEA; p8/10 Citizens Advice Scotland; p9 Simon Ridgway; p11 Arthur Rank Centre; p14 Mark McKenzie; p15 Littlehampton CAB; p16 Department for Work and Pensions All Citizens Advice Bureaux that collect data on extra benefits gained for clients, must follow a set procedure and only record benefit amounts after payment is confirmed. Figures are based on one-off lump sum payments, including back-dated gains, plus increased income for one year only. More information is available on request from Citizens Advice Information on 020 7833 2181. Key contacts in the Citizens Advice service to discuss developing partnerships: Celia Pyke-Lees Director of Services 020 7833 7125 celia.pyke-lees@citizensadvice.org.uk Carey Wood-Duffy Services Manager, Citizens Advice Cymru 01745 586 400 carey.wood-duffy@citizensadvice.org.uk Fran Targett Director, Citizens Advice Cymru 01745 586 400 fran.targett@citizensadvice.org.uk East: Anne Moynihan 01223 356322 London: Bobbie Pote 020 7549 0800 Midlands: Kamaljit Sandhu 0115 941 8315 North: Peter Rickard 0191 233 0700 Better Advice Better Health, Delyth Owen 01970 636629 Buckingham CAB, Margo Parfitt 01280 816787 Cambridge CAB, Sonia Archdale 01223 222686 Citizens Advice Devon Welfare Rights Unit, 01392 431616 Citizens Advice Somerset Welfare Rights Unit, Elizabeth Luke 01823 275985 Citizens Advice Surrey Welfare Rights Unit, Maria Zealey 01276 26707 Epsom & Ewell Borough Council, Pauline George 01372 732000 Chris Bates General Manager, Bureau Development 0115 941 8315 chris.bates@citizensadvice.org.uk Or contact one of our regional managers: Jackie Robinson Head of National Development 020 7833 7012 jackie.robinson@citizensadvice.org.uk North West: Paul Allen 0151 282 9000 South East: Tina Thompson 02380 273 355 South West: Pamela Woods 01392 425 517 Contacts for the projects featured in this publication: Havering CAB, Heather Ball 01708 735325 Luton CAB, Ruth White 01582 487802 Luton Borough Council Affordable Warmth Scheme, Sarah Allen 01582 546979 Newcastle CAB In-Work Benefit Project, Pat Barrett 0191 276 6396 Norwich CAB Steve Wiseman 01603 660857 Royton CAB 60+ campaign, Tahra Javed 0161 624 5603 Tamworth CAB, Susan Lamb 01827 709648 Uttlesford CAB, John Willoughby 01799 526557 2 Serious benefits
Introduction Inside... “The work done by Citizens Advice Bureaux in benefit take-up is absolutely invaluable. However much we try to make things simple, it’s in the nature of benefit rules that there are some complexities and it’s important that people are helped through them. Sometimes if they’ve got cause to complain against us, then it’s right that there is someone independent to represent them.” Andrew Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Since the inception of the welfare state, Citizens Advice Bureaux have been helping people to get the benefits and assistance to which they are entitled and in 2001-02, CAB advisers helped with over 1.6 million benefit and tax credit problems. Benefit take-up campaigns are run by many Citizens Advice Bureaux, targeting sections of the community who are failing to claim what is rightly theirs, including elderly people, people with disabilities and low-income families. People over 75 are the largest group not to claim their entitlements, despite antipoverty measures, such as the minimum income guarantee (MIG), designed to benefit the two million pensioners who live in poverty. A National Audit Office* report estimated that a third of those entitled to MIG did not claim it. This jumped to a possible two-thirds for some other benefits. The stigma of claiming by a generation brought up to ‘make do and mend’ is great. Long, complicated forms and a confusing claims process are also big barriers. The effect of not claiming entitlements can be profound. It can mean scraping by on an unnecessarily low income, struggling to afford to pay for basics. The reorganisation of the benefits system and emphasis on means-testing, makes the takeup work of Citizens Advice Bureaux all the more vital. Serious benefits looks at that work, the keys to success, the partnerships that succeed and the people who gain. There is much to be proud of. Estimates are that some CAB benefit take-up campaigns net as much as £85 for claimants for each £1 spent on running them – money which helps lift that person out of poverty and benefits the community in which it is spent. It’s not just claimants who gain from CAB benefit take-up work. For each local person claiming a particular benefit (capped at a certain level), the local authority receives a set amount of extra cash from the Government. This can bring in many thousands of pounds for the local authority. We discuss the importance of securing on-going funding and look at some of the innovative one-off projects and strong partnerships that have achieved exciting results. And we ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, about government initiatives to increase claiming and the value of Citizens Advice Bureaux work. 4 CAB research shows how benefit take-up work can radically improve the lives of older people who are under-claiming their entitlements. 6 Targeting, home-visiting and ongoing support are key to improving benefit take-up amongst hard-toreach groups. 8 Good advice is good for your health. 10 Why pooling resources and sharing experience across agencies is the way forward. 12 Benefit take-up work is vital, raising people’s incomes and putting cash back into local communities. So why isn’t money to fund the work more forthcoming 14 CAB money and benefits advice can help keep tenants out of courts and in their homes. 15 Citizens Advice Bureaux share their benefit take-up campaign expertise. 16 Andrew Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions tells us how the Government is addressing benefit under-claiming. Serious benefits 3
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Serious benefits - Citizens Advice

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