£5.7m in Unclaimed Benefits Identified and Paid

CAB’s benefit take up contract with the Social Security Agency (SSA) delivered over the last 12 months has helped vulnerable people to indentify and claim £5.7m in benefits.

During a visit to Strabane Citizens Advice Bureau, Minister Margaret Ritchie met Mr and Mrs Cummins. Living in a rural area and suffering from physical health difficulties, Mr and Mrs Cummins took the opportunity of a benefit assessment through their local CAB. They never imagined that any means tested assistance would be available to them as they both receive State Retirement Pension, Mrs Cummins had an Occupational Pension and they had savings. Once assessed, they discovered they had been missing out on State Pension Credit, a carer’s premium, and rate rebate. They were also eligible for a blue badge for disabled parking, and qualified for the disabled facilities’ grant for home improvements.

The Benefit Uptake programme focused on:

• older people;
• those with a disability;
• families with children.

During the programme an additional 1,800 claims for benefit were identified which amounted to £5.7 million annually.  People who benefited from the project were on average better off by £50 per week with average arrears of benefit of £822.

Derek Alcorn, Chief Executive of CAB said that “the impact of £5.7m on the local economy in a recession cannot be understated. This is money which will be spent in local businesses and the exercise has made a significant impact on poverty in Northern Ireland.  The exercise is a useful combination of the valuable information in the SSA’s database – which allows the Agency to identify vulnerable groups in the population - and the skills and knowledge of staff in Citizens Advice. We hope that other Agencies and Departments will take note of the effective business model which has been successfully developed and implemented over several years.”

Pictured left-to-right: Janine Cummings, Strabane CAB Adviser; Mrs Cummins, Benefit Uptake client of Strabane CAB; Minister for Social Development, Margaret Ritchie.