Caravan was pleased to support the Turn2us Benefits Awareness Month, which ran throughout April. The campaign encouraged people living on low incomes, and those that support them, to check their benefits entitlement and claim what was available to them.
Turn2us research suggests that many people aren't aware of the help that they may be entitled to through benefits. A recent survey revealed that a staggering 89% of people of low income earners don't know that in-work benefits, such as Working Tax Credit, are available to them - despite 44% having had their working hours reduced and 48% facing either a pay freeze or pay cut. This means that many people who could benefit the most from additional financial support are missing out - simply because they don't know that they could claim.
The Benefits Checker enables people to calculate their possible entitlement to means-tested benefits. It also indicates possible eligibility for non-means-tested benefits.
In the last year, over 1.1 million completed benefit calculations were carried out on the Turn2us website. Child Tax Credit and Housing Benefit were identified as the top two benefits in terms of monetary value. For example, Dennis, aged 66, was struggling to live on the basic state pension following his retirement. He said: “Going down from about £500 a week when I worked to £95 is a bit of a culture shock. Things were very tight and we had to go without quite a number of things.”
Dennis used Turn2us to check if he was eligible for financial support and found that he could access an extra £80 per week in benefits. “It has made such a terrific difference to us. It means we can properly heat the house, as well as save a little bit each week to give us a back-up in our lives.”
Further information on Turn2us and its services can be found at: www.turn2us.org.uk/default.aspx
