Helping Older People

Ulster Unionist Chief Whip Fred Cobain met with representatives from A2B at Stormont today where they launched a new 'A2B calculator' which allows older people to find out which benefits they may be entitled to.

Along with other MLA's Mr Cobain welcomed guests to Stormont and addressed a gathering in the Long Gallery.

The idea behind the programme is to inform and encourage older people to come forward and seek the benefits which they are entitled to as at least £50 million per year goes unclaimed by over 60s in Pension Credit alone in Northern Ireland. Because it does not come from the Northern Ireland block grant, this is money lost to Northern Ireland's older people and its economy.

Speaking this afternoon, Mr Cobain thanked Atlantic Philanthropies for delivering this particular initiative to the people of Northern Ireland. "The Access to Benefits was commissioned into existence by Atlantic Philanthropies and has attracted attention and support from the Department of Finance and Personnel because of its innovative approach of bringing the value of technology to older people."

"We all know that one of the major barriers to benefit uptake for older people is the sheer size and complexity of the benefits system. It is particularly encouraging to me that the Access 2 Benefit Calculator gives enormous help in identifying entitlement, but it is just as important that the members of the Access to Benefit Partnership Network are able to encourage older people to go ahead and make a claim to which they are entitled."

"There is little doubt that the Voluntary and Community sector is often best placed to identify those who may be in need of help. One great example of this is the interagency approach taken in Access to Benefit's current pilot activities in Fermanagh. Along with Western Health Action Zone, Fermanagh Rural Community Network, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, and a team of dedicated local volunteers, harder to reach older people in out of the way places are benefiting from the same sort of services as their urban counterparts."

"When we consider that somewhere in the region of a third of pensioners living in rural Northern Ireland live in households experiencing income poverty the importance of the work that Access to Benefits is doing becomes immediately apparent. Assistance through benefits is one of the key vehicles of tackling poverty, especially pensioner poverty, and social exclusion."

He explained that in Northern Ireland millions of pounds of benefits, which people are fully entitled to, go unclaimed each year leaving thousands of pensioners disenfranchised.

"In light of the current financial crisis and the sharp increases in electricity and fuel costs the pressures on people who are threatened by poverty is brought into sharp focus. Fuel Poverty is a much greater problem in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the United Kingdom with 24% of households unable to heat their homes to an adequate standard. That is why Access to Benefits, that Atlantic Philanthropies has commissioned, is so important."

"Ensuring that older people gain access to their full entitlements may be crucial this winter and I would like to thank Access to Benefits and Atlantic Philanthropies again for all their hard work on this crucial scheme, he said."

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INFORMATION…

By visiting the website www.a2b.org.uk and answering a series of simple and anonymous questions, an older person or a trusted person acting on their behalf can find out what benefits they are entitled to.

Users of the A2B Benefit Calculator are presented with a simple report which they can print off or save and bring to an advice organisation for further help. The report gives them details of benefits and amounts they should be claiming. The A2B site provides details of organisations which deliver benefits and provide advice and information about benefits and it contains links to claim forms on other websites. The benefit calculation is completely anonymous and all data is held securely. The website has been designed and developed in Northern Ireland, by A2B with the input of older people to ensure that it is as simple and user-friendly as possible.

As part of A2B's outreach and training activities, over 200 people have now been trained in how to help older people use the A2B Benefit Calculator. These include community health workers, community development workers and volunteers across Northern Ireland.