‘Benefits system should be easier for claimants to understand’ says CPAG

The Government needs to encourage greater take-up of welfare benefits by making the system easier to access and understand, a leading charity said today.

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) was responding to a report on the complexity of the benefits system by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Kate Green, Chief Executive of CPAG, said:

“Our complex benefits system needs to be made simpler and less confusing for both claimants, who all too often don’t know what they are entitled to, and the staff who advise them. An element of complexity is necessary to meet the wide range of needs and circumstances people face, but more could be done to simplify the benefits system as claimants experience it.

“At the same time as tackling official error and fraud much more effort needs to be made to increase take-up of tax credits and benefits. For instance, benefit staff should be better trained so they can advise people applying for one benefit if they are entitled to any others.

“Telephone helplines provide a useful service for many, but they must not become the only way in which people can get advice or claim what’s rightfully theirs. Claimants need a choice of routes into what can be a very complicated benefits system – that must include face-to-face advice, as well as online and on the phone.

“John Hutton is right to make simplification one of his priorities, but we need to see concrete proposals that do not lead to the most vulnerable people losing out.”

The PAC’s report also notes that CPAG’s “authoritative” guide to welfare benefits has “grown from 432 pages in 1990-91 to 1,546 pages in 2004-05”. The latest edition published this month is 1,597 pages long.

PAC Chairman Edward Leigh MP said:

“There will always be a degree of complexity in a benefits system if it is to operate fairly and be sensitive to the needs of people who live in varying circumstances in the real world. We find ourselves now, however, with a system which has become increasingly arcane, unwieldy and baffling to both benefit staff and customers.”

For further information from CPAG please contact:
Alex Belardinelli
CPAG Press Officer
Tel. 020 7812 5216 or 07816 909302
abelardinelli@cpag.org.uk