[UK] Benefits take-up 'needs a boost'

from The BBC

The proportion of pensioners living in poverty has fallen but more needs to be done to boost benefit take-up, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said.

The NAO said that the percentage of pensioners living in poverty had fallen from 27% in 1994 to 17% in 2005.

Means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit have played a key role in cutting poverty amongst the elderly.

Nevertheless, the government is missing its target for take-up of Pension Credit, the NAO added.

The NAO report said £6bn was paid out in Pension Credit to 2.7 million pensioner households in 2004/05.

Between 61% and 69% of those people eligible to claim pension credit receive it.

The government has said it would like take-up to be 73%.

Greater impact

The NAO said increasing the take-up of Pension Credit by 10% would lift about 100,000 pensioners out of poverty.

But boosting the numbers of pensioners claiming other benefits could have an even greater impact on pensioner poverty.

For example, the NAO calculated that a 10% increase in the numbers claiming housing and council tax benefits would see 130,000 more elderly people being lifted out of poverty.

"I am pleased to see that more than one million more households receive Pension Credit than received its predecessor (the Minimum Income Guarantee)," Sir John Bourn head of the NAO, said.

"Similar progress with other benefits should be the next step in pursuit of further progress towards what must be the overall goal - reducing pensioner poverty," he added.

The NAO recommended that the government set a target for the take-up of all benefits, not just Pension Credit.

James Purnell, minister for pension reform, said he would look at the recommendation "seriously".