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The Scottish Executive's Central Heating Programme and the Warm Deal Annual Report 2003-04: BENEFITS FROM HOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY SCHEMES IN SCOTLAND 2003-04: A REPORT BY THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
Central Heating Programme: benefit entitlement check
Background
An estimated 15% to 30% of those entitled to one or more state benefit, fail to claim. Around 30% of them are thought to be aged 60 and over. The Central Heating Programme offers participants a check to see if they are receiving their full entitlement to state benefit.
Purpose
The Central Heating Programme benefit entitlement check has two purposes:
- it forms part of government's efforts to ensure that those who are entitled to state benefit claim it; and
- it forms part of The Scottish Executive's attack on fuel poverty. The measures provided under the Central Heating Programme will themselves take many households out of fuel poverty or lessen their degree of fuel poverty. If low-income households can also benefit from increased income through benefit take-up, the effect on fuel poverty will be greater still.
Entitlement check offered in all sectors
The Central Heating Programme provides a benefit entitlement check across all sectors of the stock. Local authorities and housing associations will offer it to their tenants. Eaga offers it to owner-occupiers and private renters. Local authorities and housing associations are not asked to provide returns on benefit entitlement checks to the Scottish Executive. Eaga is required to do so. The following report of the benefit entitlement check therefore relates to Eaga only but the procedure described will be broadly similar across all sectors. However take-up rates and outcomes may differ between sectors.
Benefit entitlement check: the procedure
Offering the benefit entitlement check
After the central heating has been installed Eaga writes to the main householder and offers a benefit entitlement check. The offer extends to all members of the household. Householders who wish to have an entitlement check, are given the choice of:
- completing and returning a questionnaire;
- answering the questionnaire over the 'phone; or
- answering the questionnaire in a face-to-face interview in the home.
If the householder does not return the questionnaire within one month, Eaga phones and offers the benefit entitlement check again or writes, if the householder is not on the phone. If the householder accepts, they are given the options set out in paragraph 3 above. If the householder is out when Eaga phones they will be phoned again the following week, and if still out, phoned again the week after that. If there is no answer after three calls, or if there is no response to the letter, the case is closed.
All the Eaga staff who give benefit advice are fully trained and training is updated regularly. Many of the staff concerned have experience in working for the Benefits Agency and in Citizens Advice Bureaux. Service delivery is regularly monitored and measured against Eaga's quality management standards (ISO 9001).
Assessing entitlement
The completed questionnaires (or information provided by phone) enable Eaga to check circumstances and income against the qualifying criteria for a range of state benefits. Householders who are not claiming their full entitlement are told the benefit(s) to which they may be eligible and told how to apply for them.
Results for 2003-04
During the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 a Benefit Entitlement Check was offered to 4,585 households. 422 households decided not to participate in the offer or could not be contacted to elicit a response. 4,163 Benefit Entitlement Checks were therefore completed during 2003-04, 91% of the total offered.
After completing 4,163 checks during 2003-04, it was found that 2,150 of them (52%) were currently claiming their full benefit entitlement and were therefore not eligible for additional benefit. This does mean however that the remaining 48% - 2,013 households - were found to be either under-claiming, or not claiming at all, the benefits to which they are entitled.
The 2,013 completed checks represented a total of 2,929 recommendations where benefit was found to be deficient, meaning that some households were under-claiming on more than one benefit. The most common benefits recommended were Council Tax Benefit (1,444 recommendations, 49%) and Pension Credit (975 recommendations, 33%).
Follow-up exercise
It is important to recognise that not all of those who pass through the Benefit Entitlement Check then go on to make a claim. Eaga Partnership contacted 200 (10%) of the 2,013 households identified to establish if they have subsequently gone on to make a claim, and if that claim has been successful.
This follow-up survey found that 60% of households questioned had gone on to make a claim, of which 48% had been successful. Additionally, 4% of those questioned were awaiting a decision from the relevant authority after registering their claim. The total unclaimed benefit that may ultimately be payable to those households questioned is £2,517.71 per week, equivalent to £130,920 annually.
Eighty of the households questioned had not gone on to make a claim for additional benefit at the moment. The reasons given for not proceeding to a successful claim can be grouped into four main categories:
- Claim refused due to undisclosed information at time of Benefit Entitlement Check (32%)
- Found process of claiming too complex (8%)
- Haven't yet, but intend to claim (21%)
- No interest in claiming additional benefits (39%)
Eaga Partnership did, nevertheless, encourage those households who still appeared to be eligible to make a claim and also passed on further information where assistance could be obtained when attempting to complete the necessary forms if this would be helpful.
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