Social Security Experience Panels: benefit take-up – visual summary

Unaware of certain benefits

Participants described a range of experiences where they had been unaware of different benefits that they were entitled to.

Participants said this was the case for a wide range of benefits including disability and carer benefits, and Winter Fuel Payments.

Participants described how they had discovered specific benefits by chance.

Some said they had difficult experiences of having to learn about the benefits system later in life.

Many said they did not have access to the right information.

Others said that they had been overwhelmed by too much information.

“It’s like being parachuted into an unknown land. From my experience, it’s just not clear where to go. You start to try, you go to one place and get some information from there. Then you go to another. But I didn’t find any pathways where I could move logically. This was really difficult as I was really not well.”

“It’s a maze of dead ends and false information. It’s a complete mess for somebody who has a chronic pain and autism.”