Supplementary memorandum by Help the Aged
(CTB 22)
EXTENDING THE
CAPACITY OF
THE PENSION
SERVICE TO
TAKE ALL
COUNCIL TAX
BENEFIT CLAIMS
REGARDLESS OF
ELIGIBILITY TO
PENSION CREDIT
Numbers affected
In 2004-05 there were 4.2 million pensioners
eligible for pension credit, there were 4.72 million eligible
to council tax benefit. This means that 500,000 people could benefit
if the Pension Service were to allow people to claim council
tax benefit over their phoneline. (The number may in fact be greater
as we cannot assume all those eligible for pension credit are
eligible to council tax benefit because you can still get savings
credit if you have over £16,000 in savings.)
Impact on non take-up
In terms of impact, if these extra 500,000
people claimed CTB that would increase takeup by 10%. However,
it is clear that much of the low takeup still relates to those
who have claimed neither pension credit, nor council tax benefit.
This reinforces the argument for a system which fully automates
payment of council tax benefit which could also act as an effective
trigger to getting the same individuals to get pension credit.
IMPROVING COUNCIL
TAX BENEFIT
TAKEUP—IMPACT
ON PENSIONER
POVERTY AND
WELLBEING
It is sometimes argued that with the average
amounts unclaimed being around £11 per week, that this would
not make a substantial difference to people. Help the Aged firmly
believes that even these seemingly small amounts would make a
powerful difference.
Research we have commissioned from the Institute
of Fiscal Studies which is due to be published on 18 July, shows
that full takeup of Council Tax Benefit alone would take 200,000
individuals out of poverty. There would also be a similar impact
on deep poverty (those living on incomes below 50% median). (nb—for
those removed from deep poverty many may remain in poverty.)
In qualitative research carried out by Help
the Aged individuals regularly state that they cut back on food
and heating in order to pay household bills, this is borne out
in DWP research. It may be that people are reluctant to claim
small amounts, but we believe that this is often a matter of poor
presentation by Government—if people were told they were
missing out on £600 a year rather than £11 a week they
may respond differently.
Figures are based on ONS—Income Related
Benefits Estimates of Take-up in 2004-05 published in 2006.
| 
