Dear LPG readers, 

I wrote to LPG on this subject a couple of years ago but I think that my message is worth repeating.   It comes up every now and then while I am flicking through the pages of the internet and I feel that all LPG readers need a reminder now and then.  According to a bit of ‘.Gov’ information I have found, the 19% of the British public that are pensioners are missing out on £1.7 billion in benefits.  

You don’t have to be a mathematician to work out that some of us must be affected and, while the government will spend lots of money employing people to make sure they take what they believe they are entitled to from us, I bet they spend a lot less on checking that each of us are getting all the benefits we are entitled to.

In these days, when the only guarantee is that everything is costing more, I urge everyone to check and make sure that they are getting all the income that they are entitled to and I have again found a few different agencies where, if you put some details into an online form they will be able to give you a rough idea of if you are entitled to a bit of help.  If you don’t feel equipped to do any online form-filling yourself let me suggest that you get someone to do it for you because, to my mind, the people who are likely to benefit the most are also the ones who are going to be least likely to able to fill in the online information needed.

I am sure that there are others but I suggest that each pensioner does what they would be advised to do when preparing to have some work done; get at least three estimates.  If you add your details to three of these forms and they all say that you could get a little help.  Take the next step and apply.

DC, Camberwell

DC offers a selection of online benefit calculators to choose from…

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