According to recent research from Just Retirement, a significant number of retired individuals are failing to take advantage of their state benefits. The research used the organisations customer base to gain a better understanding of what retired people felt their state benefits were. The firm found that out of 1,589 customers around 24% were able to claim state benefits but did not. In addition, a small proportion were not claiming their full entitlement leaving them with a shortfall.

The study illustrates that many pensioners are missing out on vital income which equates to around £232 on average per year, almost a months state pension. This gap between entitlement and actually taking advantage of the benefit illustrates that there is an overall lack of understanding among pensioners of their entitlements. The icing on the cake is that the European Commission recently announced that our pensioners are among the poorest in Europe (see Our Great Welfare State).

So on the one hand, many pensioners are not taking what they are due while on the other many are being made to live in poor living conditions in order to survive. The case is clear it is extremely important to know exactly what you are entitled to.

The most common entitlement is the basic state pension which most citizens are entitled to, on condition that they have made an adequate amount of national insurance contributions. The current state pension age is 65 for men and between 60 and 65 for women (depending on when you were born). The full basic state pension for 2009/2010 is £95.25 per week for a single person. For more information, please visit: www.thepensionservice.gov.uk.