• breadsmasher@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    3 months ago

    I didn’t notice it in the article - does anyone have detail as to why pensioners who are entitled to the pensioners credits aren’t receiving them?

    A big reason for this disastrous outcome is that more than one in three pensioners entitled to Pension Credit, the qualifying benefit for WFP under this proposal, don’t receive it, a proportion that’s been roughly constant for many years

    Absolutely not doubting the validity of this report and the potential impact. I am just not understanding why the people who are entitled to a benefit are not receiving it? If this credit then enables the recipients to get WFP, could AgeUK or some other agency assist these people with applying for it?

    • kralk@lemm.ee
      7·
      3 months ago

      Any benefit where you have to apply for it is going to have these issues. People either don’t know about it, don’t want to be seen as scroungers, are too disabled to apply…

      • DJDarren@thelemmy.clubEnglish
        10·
        3 months ago

        Additionally, the previous governments made it really hard to apply for benefits, even if you’re entitled.

        • breadsmasher@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          3 months ago

          As a follow up, if we assumed everyone entitled did receive it, would that completely clear out the concerns AgeUK have raised? Or are there other problems?

          • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukEnglish
            5·
            3 months ago

            It would definitely go a long way to helping. The problem is that, while a lot of Labour’s policies have been “holistic” this has been rather rushed and all the necessary parts of the puzzle aren’t in place.

            To pull this off you’d need:

            • Far better uptake of Pension Credit - I may run a quick informal “class” in my local at the weekend (we’ve previously done things like screenshots and reaction emojis).
            • A New Green Deal focused on those receiving benefits, the elderly in energy inefficient housing and renters.

            That would get address a lot of the concerns raised but would require medium to long term changes. Perhaps an appeals process could help sort out those who fall between various stools.