Written question WQ89565

Calculating the value of unclaimed benefits in Wales is complex given that the responsibility for welfare benefits lies with the UK Government’s Department of Work and Pensions and data is generally collated on a UK wide basis.

A report published by Policy in Practice in April 2023 Missing-out-19-billion-of-support.pdf (policyinpractice.co.uk) estimated that the total amount of unclaimed income-related benefits and social tariffs was £18.7 billion a year across the UK.

For the UK Government benefits Policy in Practice provided the following estimates, for households across the UK (estimates for Wales are not available):

Benefit

Eligible Households not claiming

Estimated unclaimed (£m)

Universal Credit

1,255,000

£7,565

Carers Allowance

500,000

£1,996

Pension Credit

850,000

£1,754

Child Benefit

765,000

£1,130

Housing Benefit (Pension age)

260,000

£929

We will shortly be launching our fourth Claim What’s Yours national benefit take-up campaign. The campaign’s Call to Action encourages people towards Advicelink Cymru to check their eligibility for financial support. Our previous three campaigns helped over 15,500 people to claim over £6.3m of additional income.

We know the services delivered through the Welsh Government’s Single Advice Fund (SAF) are making a real difference to peoples’ lives. Everyone accessing a SAF service is offered a welfare benefit entitlement check, regardless of the reason they were seeking advice. Since January 2020 SAF services have supported people in Wales to claim over £116.6m of additional benefit income. We are also funding a programme of training for frontline workers who support a wide range of service users, including children and families, people in low paid employment, carers, older people, students and young people. The training helps build their knowledge of welfare benefits and support services users to claim the benefits they are entitled to.