In this long-read, Independent Age’s Senior Policy Officer Tatiana Sherwood explores what it’s like to claim financial support past State Pension age, and the devastating impact if people are not able to do this.
“Long, tedious, repetitive, by [the] time you finished you feel absolutely awful, mentally exhausted and worry you won’t get the help.”
This is how one person described the process of applying for a social security entitlement. Aged between 71 and 75, they were responding to a 2024 Independent Age survey. As a charity that speaks to older people in poverty every day, and helps many to navigate the social security system, we know that this experience is far from unique. Many people in later life rely on social security and the State Pension to get by, but too many are missing out.
Previously, we have conducted extensive research on Pension Credit, an income top-up for people past State Pension age; highlighting how much Pension Credit is not received by eligible people across the UK, and what the UK Government and local authorities can do to rectify this.
But Pension Credit is just one element of a wider — and extremely complex — system of financial support designed for those in later life, and it is important to understand where people are missing out across this whole pathway.
Read the full article – medium.com/independent-age/claiming-benefits-older-social-security-dc20ac967474
