United Kingdom
Take-up of benefits
Key points
- Around a third of all pensioner households entitled to Pension Credit are not claiming it (1.3 million households).
- Two-fifths of all pensioner households entitled to Council Tax Benefit are not claiming it (1.7 million households).
- Non-take-up for both Pension Credit and Council Tax Benefit has risen substantially over the last decade, up from 26% to 33% for Pension Credit and from 29% to 40% for Council Tax Benefit.
- Problems with take-up of Housing Benefit are much less severe.
- Of the estimated £4½ billion of unclaimed income-related benefits to which pensioners were entitled in 2008/09, Pension Credit accounted for half while Council Tax Benefit accounted for a third.
- Take-up of the Pension Credit is much lower for owner-occupiers than for social and private renters: half of all the households in owner-occupation who are entitled to the Pension Credit do not claim it compared to 'only' a fifth for renters. One of the reasons for this difference is likely to be that owner-occupiers are less likely to be in contact with their local authority than renters because Housing Benefit is not applicable to them.
- The proportion of pensioner households entitled to, but not claiming, Pension Credit is somewhat higher for pensioner couples than for single pensioners.
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: By amount
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Graph 3: By tenure
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Graph 4: By family type
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Why this indicator was originally chosen
This indicator is the proportion of pensioner household who are entitled for means-tested state benefits who are not taking up these benefits', covering the three major benefits of Income Support (the Minimum Income Guarantee), Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit. Older people's attitudes to claiming benefits are different from those of younger people and, for example, most of those not claiming the Council Tax Benefit to which they are entitled are pensioners. Of the estimated 1.8 million non-recipients of Council Tax Benefit in 2000/01, 1.3 million were pensioners. The impact of Council Tax on older people's incomes, Kenway P. and Pannell J., Help The Aged, 2003. Given that these benefits are specifically targeted at people with low income, any non-take-up is a cause for concern
Definitions and data sources
The first graph shows, for a number of selected benefits, the estimated proportion of pensioner households entitled to the benefit who are not taking up their entitlement.
The benefits shown are the three major benefits of older people, namely Council Tax Benefit, Pension Credit (and its predecessors) and Housing Benefit. In each case, the estimates are the averages for low end and high end estimates published by DWP.
The second graph shows, for the latest year, the estimated amounts of money not being taken-up by the pensioner households. Again, the estimates in each case are the averages for the low end and high end estimates published by DWP.
The third graph shows the estimated proportion of pensioner households in each housing tenure who are entitled to the Pension Credit but are not taking up their entitlement. Note that the data groups households renting from registered social landlords with private renters rather then with those renting from local authorities. Also note that data by tenure is not available for either Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit.
The fourth group shows the estimated proportion of pensioner households of each family type who are entitled to the Pension Credit but are not taking up their entitlement.
The data source for all the graphs is the Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up series published by DWP. The data relates to Great Britain. To improve its statistical reliability, the data in the third and fourth graphs is the average for the latest three years.
Note that, in all the graphs, the figures shown are the mid-points of quite wide range estimates and the figures for any particular benefit in any particular year are subject to an uncertainty of around 4 percentage points.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: medium. The figures are estimates only, based on the modelling of data from surveys such as the Family Resources Survey.
External links
- See the turn2us website: Turn2us is a charity that helps people access information on welfare benefits and charitable grants.
- See the DWP report on its plans for development networks of services for older people.
- See the DWP site on benefit take-up statistics.
- See the New Policy Institute report on Council Tax and older people.
- See the University of Leicester report entitled The take-up of multiple means-tested benefits by British pensioners.
Relevant 2007 Public Service Agreements
Overall aim: Tackle poverty and promote greater independence and well-being in later life
Lead department
Department for Work and Pensions.
Official national targets
None.
Other indicators of progress
Employment rate age 50-69: percentage difference between this and overall employment rate.
Pensioner poverty.
Healthy life-expectancy at age 65.
Over 65s satisfied with home and neighbourhood.
Over 65s supported to live independently.
Previous 2004 targets
By 2008, be paying Pension Credit to at least 3.2 million pensioner households. While maintaining a focus on the most disadvantaged by ensuring that at least 2.2 million of these households are in receipt of the Guarantee Credit.
Improve Housing Benefit administration by:
- reducing the average time taken to process a Housing Benefit claim to no more than 48 days nationally, and across the bottom 15 per cent of local authorities to no more than 55 days, by March 2008;
- increasing the number of cases in the deregulated private rented sector in receipt of Local Housing Allowance to 740,000 by 2008; and
- increasing the number of cases in receipt of the Local Housing Allowance where the rent is paid directly to the claimant to 470,000 by 2008.
Relevant government policies
The numbers
Graph 1
| Year | Pension Credit (and its predecessors) | Council Tax Benefit | Housing Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997/98 | 27% | 28% | 9% |
| 1998/99 | 26% | 29% | 8% |
| 1999/00 | 29% | 33% | 11% |
| 2000/01 | 28% | 35% | 10% |
| 2001/02 | 33% | 40% | 14% |
| 2002/03 | 32% | 41% | 13% |
| 2003/04 | 38% | 44% | 15% |
| 2004/05 | 35% | 45% | 16% |
| 2005/06 | 36% | 43% | 14% |
| 2006/07 | 36% | 42% | 15% |
| 2007/08 | 35% | 44% | 16% |
| 2008/09 | 33% | 40% | 17% |
Graph 2
| Pension Credit | £2,300M |
|---|---|
| Council Tax Benefit | £1,300M |
| Housing Benefit | £800M |
Graph 3
| Local authority renters | 15% |
|---|---|
| Private and registered social landlord renters | 24% |
| Owner-occupiers | 48% |
Graph 4
| Single female pensioners | 31% |
|---|---|
| Single male pensioners | 31% |
| Pensioner couples | 43% |