Applying for benefits ‘must be simpler for pensioners’

A charity has urged the government to make the process of applying for benefits easier for older people.

According to Independent Age, elderly people must answer 450 questions in total if they’re applying for:

• pension credit
• attendance allowance
• council tax reduction
• housing benefit

This, it said, can often take several hours, and be difficult for people with low literacy levels, health conditions and no internet access.

Independent Age believes this is leading to thousands of pensioners missing out on the support they’re entitled to receive.

Joanna Elson, chief executive of the charity, said: “Many people in later life are often unable to access potentially life-changing support.

“The government and local authorities must work together to drive take-up for benefits such as pension credit and housing benefit.”

Government making benefits system ‘as accessible as possible’

Responding to the findings, the government has insisted it has made the benefits application process “as accessible as possible”.

For example, it said completing the pension credit claim form online now takes just 16 minutes on average to complete.

And since July, the number of people getting pension credit support has gone up by almost 50,000.

“Our new initiative of joining up state pension and pension credit is supporting more people onto the benefit as soon as they become eligible,” a government spokesperson said.

“And we have written to over 120,000 pensioner households in receipt of housing benefit about pension credit to better join up the offer and further improve uptake.”

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