State Pension is set to rise for millions of women this year.
13.01.2022 - 15:37 / dailyrecord.co.uk
Cash-strapped older homeowners of State Pension age are missing out on thousands of pounds of extra income by failing to claim their full entitlement to key means-tested benefits delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), according to a new report by Just Group.
The charity’s twelfth annual State Benefits insight report found that of pensioner homeowners entitled to receive benefits, nearly half (49%) were failing to claim with each household missing out on an average of £1,197 a year extra income.
Two in 10 (21%) who were claiming were receiving too little, on average missing out on £1,220 a year income.
Stephen Lowe, group communications director at retirement specialist Just Group, said: “Every year we find meaningful income that would make a real difference to people’s lives is not being claimed.
“The proportion eligible for a benefit is trending lower but more of those people are failing to claim. It raises serious questions about why people in most need of support are not receiving what is rightly theirs.”
The research is based on in-depth fact-finding interviews with clients seeking advice on equity release during 2021.
It shows nearly one in four (24%) were entitled to benefits and of those, nearly half (49%) were not claiming anything and two in 10 (21%) were claiming too little.
Stephen explained: “The first step carried out by specialist equity release advisers from our sister company HUB Financial Solutions is to check if clients are eligible for more income from the State.
“Claiming their full entitlement can give them extra income that will often reduce the amount they need to release or remove the need to release any funds altogether at that time.”
The highest amount of extra income lost was
State Pension is set to rise for millions of women this year.
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State Pension provides essential financial support every month for over 12.4 million people across the UK. This regular payment is available for those who have reached the UK Government’s eligible retirement age, which is now 66 for both men and women.
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State Pension provides essential financial support every month for around 12.4 million people across the UK, including 981,399 Scots and for some, it is their only source of income during their retirement years.
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