It’s £or your own Bene£it!

In early 2004 Granton Information Centre was successful in securing funding to run a benefit take up campaign.

The ‘its £or your own benefit’ campaign was devised by Granton Information Centre after an approach by North Edinburgh Area Renewal (NEAR), who were looking at practical ways to increase local household income. With funding of £50, 000 agreed by the Pilton Partnership’s SIP Panel the project was launched in April following the recruitment of 2 dedicated benefits advice staff.

Since the Take Up campaign became fully operational in May, almost 300 new clients have been interviewed and of those 136 have received a financial reward. The average benefit increase has been £1500 per client, with seven people finding themselves over £10, 000 better off and one client over £16,000 a year better off. By November 2004, the amount of benefits raised by the campaign so far stood at an incredible £504, 206 – and there’s lots more to come.

GIC benefits advice worker Michelle Lee explained: “This money was benefits our clients were entitled to, but the real figure could be much higher as there are many clients who may have received awards but did not inform GIC. People don’t claim their entitlement for a variety of reasons but one of the main reasons given is that Benefits and Allowances are difficult to understand. We launched the campaign in late April to raise awareness of benefits that were going unclaimed – we had estimated that over £2 million is going unclaimed here in North Edinburgh every year. The target we set was to get £518,000 in one year of operation, and we are obviously delighted to have passed the landmark half million mark in November. However we are sure there are many more people out there who may be missing out on money which is theirs to claim, and we would urge them to get in touch to see if we can help – they may get a very pleasant surprise”

One Pilton woman who asked not to be named, was delighted she took some advice from a family member – after an interview and benefits check she found her annual income has increased by a five figure sum. She told the NEN: “Granton Information Centre had carried out some council tax advice work for my brother and he suggested I should get in touch with them as they had been a great help to him. I had never been unemployed before and hadn’t a clue about benefits or the things I might be entitled to – it was a complete mystery to me and I didn’t know where to start. I can’t speak highly enough about the services I received – everyone was so helpful and I was given all the support I needed all the way through the process. It’s very complicated, especially when you have no experience of the benefits system and filling in lots of different forms, but Michelle was exceptional at explaining how it all works. I’m honestly over the moon about how it all worked out – it will have a great effect on my quality of life and yes, it will help make Christmas extra special for my children this year”.

If you would like to take a benefits health check, call Granton Information Centre on 538 7760 to make an appointment. Remember, it’s £or your own benefit!

Article from North Edinburgh News