Age Concern Colchester has launched its More Money in Your Pocket campaign to help the thousands of pensioners in Colchester who are missing out on their share of up to £4.6 billion in money benefits unclaimed each year by older people.
Through its benefits campaign last year the charity helped local older people to claim £913,000. This year the charity is aiming to help even more older people in Colchester to claim the benefits they are entitled to. More Money in Your Pocket will focus on different benefits every two months starting with Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit during April and May.
Recent hikes in fuel, food, water and council tax bills are putting a real strain on pensioners’ pockets. Despite many older people finding it hard to make ends meet, millions are missing out on benefits cash that’s rightfully theirs, either because they don’t know that they are entitled, are worried about the complexity of the process or are embarrassed about claiming. Yet Age Concern Colchester offers free and confidential expert support and advice which can help make claiming simple.
Despite council tax in Colchester, going up by this year, Council Tax Benefit is still the least claimed benefit by older people, with up to 45% of those entitled to claim missing out – that’s up to 2.2 million pensioners. Many people are unaware that putting in a successful claim could reduce their council tax bill by an average of £624 a year.
Patricia Al-Salih, Advice Manager at Age Concern Colchester, said:
“Last year we helped around 800 local older people to claim benefits well in excess of £844,000, and we aim to reach even more people this year. There are hundreds of pensioners in Colchester who are missing out on cash that is rightfully theirs, which could make a massive difference to their quality of life.
“Age Concern can help make it easy to claim the money that you’re owed. We have benefits advisors available throughout the year to provide expert help and information to older people across Colchester.We would urge all older people in the area to get in touch with us to find out if they can claim. Please telephone 01206 368420 to book an appointment with one of our Advice Service Team.”
Further details of the campaign will be found on the Age Concern website
Back to News Page |
