What the media says about me...

"Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, is not one of the Government’s favourite backbenchers. That’s because he does not bite his lip or sit on his hands when Ministers propose to do something, or refuse to do something, and he disagrees with them."

Lancashire Telegraph editorial. May 2008

MP Backs Campaign to Boost Take-up of Benefits

Tags: benefits | Old Age | Press Release | tax credits

Wednesday, 30 July 2008 00:00

A staggering £10 billion in benefits went unclaimed last year according to the Citizens Advice Bureau. And now Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, is urging people to claim the benefits to which they are entitled.” Speaking from his constituency office in Nelson today, the MP said: “The CAB estimate that as many as 6 million people are not claiming benefits they are qualified to get. They say Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Working Tax credit are all currently massively under claimed.” “With rising energy and food prices things are not easy for many people on modest incomes. New rules are coming into effect in October which will allow people to make claims and backdate their entitlement to three months. At the moment backdating can go back a full 12 months.” “I don’t want Pendle people to miss out when benefits are there to help.” Note to Editors: The Department of Work and Pensions confirms that up to 1.8 million pensioners are estimated to be entitled to pension credit but are not receiving it – the average weekly amount unclaimed is £28.40. Up to 2.9 million people are estimated to be missing out on Council Tax Benefit – the average weekly amount unclaimed is £12.90. Almost a million people are missing out on £2,280 million of unclaimed housing benefit. The level of non-take up amongst those in work is 50% One million working-age adults without children (78% of those eligible for extra help) are failing to claim money from the tax credit system. For an adult working 30 hours a week earning the minimum wage, tax credits could boost their income by almost £1,700 a year.