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Around seven million households across England, Scotland and Wales are missing out on £24.1 billion of benefits and support, according to new analysis.
That money could keep them warm, fed, and stable in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
The figures, from social policy experts Policy in Practice and reported by the BBC, include unclaimed support from Universal Credit, Pension Credit, free school meals, council tax relief, and help with “social tariffs” on energy, water and broadband.
That’s £24 billion to which people are legally entitled, but that they aren’t receiving.
And it isn’t a one-off: the same researchers estimated £23 billion went unclaimed last year, and £19 billion the year before.
According to Policy in Practice, there are three main barriers to claiming: awareness, complexity, and stigma.
- Many people don’t even know they qualify;
- Others give up halfway through endless forms; and
- Far too many are made to feel that claiming what they’re due is something to be ashamed of.
The result is that families already under pressure are going without, while the government quietly saves billions by relying on the system’s own failures.
What happens if people do start claiming?
Here’s the bombshell: the government is already insisting it is facing a so-called £50 billion “black hole” in the public finances.
If seven million households claimed what is theirs, the annual cost could climb by another £24 billion – pushing the hole closer to £75 billion.
What do you think Labour would do in response?
Experience tells us not to expect fairness.
Keir Starmer’s government is already trying to restrict disability benefits, despite overwhelming evidence of need.
Faced with mass claims for existing entitlements, the easy, cynical answer would be to tighten eligibility rules, make assessments harsher, or pile on more bureaucracy – in other words, to punish people for daring to ask for the help that they deserve.
That would mean millions of working-class households, including Labour’s own core support base, being pushed deeper into poverty – and it would erode Labour’s legitimacy even further than Starmer already has.
What should Labour do instead?
The smarter, cheaper, fairer path is obvious: fix the system so people can claim what is already theirs – automatically, simply, and without stigma.
Here’s how:
-
Automatic enrolment: Use tax and pension records to auto-apply “gateway” benefits like Pension Credit, which unlock council tax relief and winter fuel discounts. Make support ‘opt-out’, not ‘opt-in‘.
-
Scale up help to claim: Fund Citizens Advice and outreach teams properly so older people, disabled people and the digitally excluded aren’t left behind.
-
Simplify forms: Stop forcing people to repeat the same evidence across multiple agencies. One form should open the door to multiple supports.
-
End the stigma: Run campaigns that frame benefits as rights, not handouts – through trusted community partners, not just Whitehall press releases.
-
Make social tariffs automatic: Energy, water and broadband firms should be required to apply discounts to eligible households without customers having to beg for them.
Crucially, this doesn’t have to cost the earth. Automatic take-up cuts admin costs, reduces crisis spending by local councils, and boosts local economies as people spend the money they’re entitled to have.
This is because transfers to low-income households go straight back into shops and services, generating tax revenue and growth.
The real choice for Starmer
So here’s the fact: seven million households are missing out not because they don’t need help, but because successive governments have built a system that is hostile by design.
Starmer’s Labour can either double down on that hostility, restrict eligibility, and destroy its own working-class base – or it can prove it is on the side of ordinary people by making support automatic, fair and dignified.
Which way do you think he’ll jump?
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Seven million are missing out on £24 billion – will Starmer’s Labour cut them off?
Share this post:
Around seven million households across England, Scotland and Wales are missing out on £24.1 billion of benefits and support, according to new analysis.
That money could keep them warm, fed, and stable in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
The figures, from social policy experts Policy in Practice and reported by the BBC, include unclaimed support from Universal Credit, Pension Credit, free school meals, council tax relief, and help with “social tariffs” on energy, water and broadband.
That’s £24 billion to which people are legally entitled, but that they aren’t receiving.
And it isn’t a one-off: the same researchers estimated £23 billion went unclaimed last year, and £19 billion the year before.
According to Policy in Practice, there are three main barriers to claiming: awareness, complexity, and stigma.
The result is that families already under pressure are going without, while the government quietly saves billions by relying on the system’s own failures.
What happens if people do start claiming?
Here’s the bombshell: the government is already insisting it is facing a so-called £50 billion “black hole” in the public finances.
If seven million households claimed what is theirs, the annual cost could climb by another £24 billion – pushing the hole closer to £75 billion.
What do you think Labour would do in response?
Experience tells us not to expect fairness.
Keir Starmer’s government is already trying to restrict disability benefits, despite overwhelming evidence of need.
Faced with mass claims for existing entitlements, the easy, cynical answer would be to tighten eligibility rules, make assessments harsher, or pile on more bureaucracy – in other words, to punish people for daring to ask for the help that they deserve.
That would mean millions of working-class households, including Labour’s own core support base, being pushed deeper into poverty – and it would erode Labour’s legitimacy even further than Starmer already has.
What should Labour do instead?
The smarter, cheaper, fairer path is obvious: fix the system so people can claim what is already theirs – automatically, simply, and without stigma.
Here’s how:
Automatic enrolment: Use tax and pension records to auto-apply “gateway” benefits like Pension Credit, which unlock council tax relief and winter fuel discounts. Make support ‘opt-out’, not ‘opt-in‘.
Scale up help to claim: Fund Citizens Advice and outreach teams properly so older people, disabled people and the digitally excluded aren’t left behind.
Simplify forms: Stop forcing people to repeat the same evidence across multiple agencies. One form should open the door to multiple supports.
End the stigma: Run campaigns that frame benefits as rights, not handouts – through trusted community partners, not just Whitehall press releases.
Make social tariffs automatic: Energy, water and broadband firms should be required to apply discounts to eligible households without customers having to beg for them.
Crucially, this doesn’t have to cost the earth. Automatic take-up cuts admin costs, reduces crisis spending by local councils, and boosts local economies as people spend the money they’re entitled to have.
This is because transfers to low-income households go straight back into shops and services, generating tax revenue and growth.
The real choice for Starmer
So here’s the fact: seven million households are missing out not because they don’t need help, but because successive governments have built a system that is hostile by design.
Starmer’s Labour can either double down on that hostility, restrict eligibility, and destroy its own working-class base – or it can prove it is on the side of ordinary people by making support automatic, fair and dignified.
Which way do you think he’ll jump?
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