Merton Council has been accused of being “blind” to how many people are not claiming the benefits they are entitled to.
Merton Lib Dems have criticised the Labour-run council for making no assessment of the scale of unclaimed benefits in the borough, which recent figures put at £118 million.
New research by Policy in Practice, a data analytics company, estimated that £23 billion of benefit support was unclaimed across the UK in 2024. Further assessments found that £118m of that amount came from Merton.
They also found that claiming child benefit alone would be worth £1,900 each year to the average family in Merton. This has led Paul Kohler, the newly elected Lib Dem MP for Wimbledon, to call for the Council to identify and engage with the people entitled to but not currently accessing these benefits.
Kohler, who also represents the Wimbledon Town and Dundonald ward, spoke to the local democracy reporting service (LDRS) about the extent of these unclaimed benefits. He said: “Thousands of my constituents are completely unaware that they qualify for certain benefit support.
“Our proposal was about putting people’s money back in their pockets, where it belongs. The Greater London Authority’s Pension Credit campaign was a huge success, and the Liberal Democrats are urging Merton Council to replicate this approach for all benefits.
“It’s a no-brainer – it costs the Council almost nothing. My message to local Labour councillors is: don’t fail residents simply because you’re too proud to accept that sometimes other parties suggest the right thing to do.”
Merton Council has taken steps to alleviate the pressures of the cost of living crisis on those in the borough. These have included hosting its own “Cost of living days” at local libraries, where residents can access support and advice on how to access benefits.
However, according to the leader of the opposition, Anthony Fairclough, these efforts do not go far enough. In particular, he accuses the Council of not measuring how effective these efforts are.
He told the LDRS: “They are doing some good things, the cost of living days where you can go along and receive advice and help are great. However, there’s no way of telling how effective those things are and whether they’re in the right place.
“I don’t know if they’ve done any real level of analysis about whether that is the right way to reach the right people. They’re blind to how bad this will be as a local problem.
“What we’re looking for is really simple things that are relatively cheap for the local authority but would actually make a big difference for people who are eligible for support but didn’t know about it.”
The Lib Dems formalised their suggestions in a recent proposal to the Council. The proposal called for the Cabinet to promote the various benefit schemes in their In Merton magazine as well as advertisements in schools, care homes and on social media.
Despite receiving cross-party support, this proposal was blocked by the Council. Fairclough also told the LDRS how the borough’s lack of benefit claims was also depriving people of what he called “gateway benefits.”
These benefits include Social Broadband and Water Tariffs, the Warm Homes Discount, and a free TV License.
Policy in Practice estimates that claiming this support would save the average family £670 per year.
According to Fairclough, this additional support “only click in if you’re a claimant to other types of benefits.” He added: “This is not money coming from the Council, it is money that the government has to a large extent anticipated.”
Fairclough also recalled his own experiences with benefits and said he understood the reasons why people were not claiming their entitlements. He said: “With personal experience, as a child when I was between 9-13 my parents had split up and my mother was the sole earner in my family.
“I have a really distinct memory of those 40-page forms and the importance that was put on filling them in and getting them done correctly because that would be the difference between where there was money for tea or lunch money for school.
“That’s really burnt into my memory, the importance of getting it right and that doesn’t change. Things don’t get any more straightforward, you may no longer do it on a piece of paper but the complexity of this stuff doesn’t change.
“The report brings back the impact of it, but on top of that, you also have the stigma attached. If you’re in desperate circumstances sometimes the last thing you have time to do is look into it and have the time to find out what you’re actually entitled to.”
In the meantime, Kohler has told Merton residents “Don’t assume that you’re not eligible. Contact Citizens Advice or use an online benefits calculator to check what you’re entitled to.”
When approached for comment, Councillor Billy Christie, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, told the LDRS: “Ensuring that residents get the support they are entitled to is at the heart of the work the council does.
“The council set up a £3 million Cost of Living Support Fund and has delivered 15 cost of living events, attended by more than 3,400 people, who were offered advice on what benefits are available and how to access them. Our online support hub, which signposts residents to benefit calculators and other guidance, has been accessed more than 4,000 times in the last year alone.
‘The council also supported 157 residents directly in the last year, resulting in an average of just under £300 more going to each household every month. A council funded disability specialist within Citizens Advice Merton worked with 100 people in the same period, and this resulted nearly half a million pounds worth of claims for residents.
“The council is already working closely with Policy in Practice on its benefit take-up campaign and pension credit campaign, the latter of which has seen more than 200 residents contacted and encouraged to take up their entitlements.”