In the midst of the headlines about fraudulent benefit claims and benefits recipients making “lifestyle choices” about claims, the Department for Work and Pensions has issued research showing that up to £12.3 billion went unclaimed in 2009-10.

The figure is so large I double-checked it – it is indeed up to £12.3 billion, nearly as much as the Welsh Government’s budget.  This is a UK figure, but if under-claiming is the same in Wales as elsewhere then up to £0.6bn is going unclaimed here.

Estimates for the under-claiming of individual benefits are just as staggering (shown in the table below).  As many as four out of ten people entitled to income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance aren’t claiming, and nearly the same proportion are not claiming Pension Credit or Council Tax Benefit. Even if the low estimate of claims is taken, the proportions are still substantial with a third of people entitled not claiming these three benefits.

Under-claiming each of these benefits saves the UK Government a fortune. For example, under-claimed Housing Benefit saves between £1.75 billion and £3 billion. Compare this figure with the £1.8 billion a year it is estimated will be saved by the various reforms to Housing Benefit such as restricting under-35 year olds to claiming only for shared accommodation, limiting claims to “appropriately-sized accommodation” and aligning benefit-levels to the cheapest 30% in the area.  In other words, non-claimants are saving the Government at least as much as they will achieve through spending cuts.

It’s not clear why so many people do not claim their benefit entitlement – but stigma must be a factor.  The biggest “savings” are not those being made by Government cuts but those resulting from the labelling of claimants as “scroungers” who are “benefit dependants” making a “life-style choice”.

Increasing take-up should be a Welsh and local government priority.  High take-up is not only good for the people entitled to claim but who don’t, it’s also good for the Welsh and local economy, with unclaimed benefits being very roughly equivalent to about 1.3% of GVA.  The Welsh Government funds Citizen’s Advice Cymru to increase take-up, but it could do much more.  The highest levels of under-claiming of many benefits are amongst people in work, many of them likely to be in the public sector.  Public sector employers could do much more, for example putting inserts in employees’ payslips with information about getting help and running a public awareness campaign. Crucially, there needs to a new narrative about benefits, which says it’s OK to get a bit of help, it’s your right. The slogans “every little helps” and “because you’re worth it” could suddenly have new and arguably more socially-useful purpose.