88 Percent: A Duty-of-Care Benefits Navigator for the Cost-of-Living Crisis
Arthur is 75. He lives alone in a cold, terraced house in Greater Manchester on a basic State Pension of just under £210 a week. When his dual-fuel energy bill climbed again this winter, he started turning off his heating at 4pm and eating one hot meal every two days.
He had never claimed a means-tested benefit in his life. He assumed benefits were "for other people," that applying meant handing over his bank statements to an invasive algorithmic portal, and that even if he qualified, it would only be for a few pounds.
He didn't know that his weekly income placed him £15 below the Pension Credit guarantee threshold. He didn't know that claiming that £15 a week would automatically passport him to a £150 Warm Home Discount rebate, an 85% Council Tax Reduction from his local authority, a free TV licence (available to Pension Credit recipients aged 75 or over), and support with NHS dental and optical costs. Across the year, his unclaimed entitlement totaled more than £4,200.
Arthur isn't an isolated case. He is one of 880,000 eligible UK pensioners missing out on Pension Credit, part of a wider £23 billion mountain of unclaimed benefits and support schemes every year across England.
