A recent report from the charity Age UK found that many older Brits on low incomes are missing out on benefits such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax support as they are not able to apply for them online
Thousands of older Brits are missing out on financial support due to them being “digitally excluded”.
A recent report from the charity Age UK found that many older Brits on low incomes are missing out on benefits such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax support as they are not able to apply for them online. Latest Government estimates say around 310,000 pensioner households are missing out on Housing Benefits even though they are entitled to them. Age UK says this number could be down to many being unable to apply for the extra support online.
Research conducted by the charity made 220 telephone calls to 110 councils in England and Wales to find out what options were offered to people who wanted to apply for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction, but who could not use online systems. It found that people who called local councils were told they could get help at council offices or a library, but only once they persisted.
Four callers could not get through to speak to a person at all, and 16 were not offered a way of applying independently or supplied any help from the council. There were also instances in which different employees from the same council said different things about their offline options when more than one call was made – creating a “massive postcode lottery”.
The charity worries that being offline or not being comfortable using online systems creates an additional barrier for older people to receive financial help to which they are legally entitled. According to Age UK research, around 2.3 million over 65s do not use the internet at all and almost half (48%) of these people are aged 75+.
Age UK is urging councils to offer at least one suitable offline option for those who cannot use offline services, as well as make their offline contact details easier to find. It also noted that the Government plays a crucial part in enforcing these options nationally. Age UK has called on the Government to:
- Issue binding national guidance to all councils and other public bodies setting out minimum standards that they must meet in terms of ensuring there is good offline access to their services.
- Provide local councils with enough funding to provide offline options, and
- Lead on the development of a long-term, fully funded national Digital Inclusion Strategy, to support people of all ages who want to go online to do so.
Caroline Abrahams CBE, Charity Director at Age UK said: “It’s quite wrong that if you are an older person who is offline, your ability to apply for financial support you badly need depends so much on where you happen to live – it is clearly much easier to do in some places, compared to others.
“Some councils are doing a good job in supporting older people who can’t use online systems to apply for help in other ways… however in a minority of cases, no offline option was on offer at all. What would have happened to a ‘real’ older person who had rung up and asked to apply for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction in another way in one of these localities? It seems to us that they would have been unable to do so, unless they had the support of a family member or friend who was au fait with computers, to help them get through the process online.