£6000 project uncovers £120,000 of unclaimed benefits in north Moseley

Below is an update on Moseley and Kings Heath Ward Benefit Take Up for over60's project.

This project is funded out of Neighbourhood Renewal Funds and is costing theWard £6000.

The project has now seen or offered interviews to all of the over 80s ontheir original list in the target area of north Moseley. Letters have alsobeen sent to everyone who is 80 years old this year offering them aninterview. In the interview, the residents will be checked to see that theyare claimng all their benefits.

As a result of this work 85 visits have been undertaken. From these visits60 cases are now closed, 20 of these being successful. A further 20 areawaiting an outcome. The success rate should improve as all cases initiallygo onto the system and then are updated as successful once an outcome isconfirmed. In some cases this can take several months .

Total extra benefits raised to date = £41,287.
The project estimates that the project will finally yield £120k + . ie the£6000 cost of the project has uncovered £120,000 of unclaimed benefits

As all 80+ leads have now been exhausted the project is now focusing onsingle women aged 60+ to increase benefits, particularly pension credits.