Benefits take-up scheme breaks £2m barrier

Older residents in East Sussex have been helped to claim £2.2m per year in previously unclaimed benefits thanks to one of the most successful partnership schemes ever carried out in the county.

For the last two years, East Sussex County Council has worked with East Sussex Age Concern to provide a 'benefits take-up' scheme. The project involves a dedicated benefits outreach team who visit older people in their own homes to help them with benefits advice. A team member will work out what benefits the resident is entitled to and then help them to fill out the necessary forms and take them through the application process.

Council leaders say the scheme has been extremely successful and the latest project update backs this up. In its first two years, the County Council has invested 200,000 but the scheme has brought in an additional 2.2m in benefits for older people and outreach staff have given direct help to more than 2,100 people.

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Councillor Bob Tidy, Lead Member for Community Services at the County Council said the scheme has made a real difference to the household budgets for many older people. "We wanted to give those people we could help a better quality of life, reduced financial stress and extra spending power in the community and the scheme has done just that.

"We thought that the first year of the scheme, when over 1,100 people were helped to claim an extra 850,000 in benefits, was excellent so to break the 2m barrier after two years is absolutely outstanding. In terms of efficiency it must be one of the best examples you will find anywhere. Our 200,000 of investment has delivered a ten fold return on that investment in terms of increased benefits for our residents".

Steve Hare, Director of East Sussex Age Concern, said: "We are delighted that the scheme has made such an important impact on the older people in our county. Our partnership with East Sussex County Council has enabled us to reach out to those who are isolated and in financial distress, and to support them in taking up the benefits to which they are entitled. This has been a lifeline for older people and we are really pleased with the difference it has made to them and the wider community."

The County Council provided 200,000 to fund the two-year scheme which started in June 2004. It was such a success that council leaders decided in February this year to fund the scheme for an extra year with another 100,000.

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The benefits outreach teams have been working in the larger towns of Eastbourne, Hastings, Uckfield and Crowborough and also in more rural locations around Lewes, Wealden and Rother. They say many residents are either unaware of benefits available or have real difficulty understanding the application process.