Yahoo Finance Does the government owe you money?
There's a real squeeze on people's pockets at the moment but an astounding number aren't accessing all the benefits they're entitled to.
I was amazed to read the story of Walter Craven — a 102-year-old who's just received £50,000 in backdated benefits. That might sound like a windfall, but it's cash that should have been making his life easier for the last 10 years.
He's not that unusual either. Official figures show that an astonishing £19.18 billion of welfare benefits goes unclaimed. That includes £6.48 billion in Tax Credits, which should be helping low income families. And, unlike the fortunate Mr Craven, many people will find they've passed deadlines and cannot claim back what they've missed.
Some families and pensioners will be missing out on their payments because they are too proud to claim, some won't realise that they're entitled to anything and some will assume that they don't qualify because they have savings. And so billions is left in the pot when it could be helping struggling Britons.
What's not being claimed?
Research by Unbiased.co.uk found that 475,000 families are not claiming the child benefit that they're entitled to, missing out on an average of £829.47 a year. That's £394 million in total going unclaimed.
Around £2.2 billion of Child Tax Credit and a further £3.6 billion of Working Tax Credit is being missed out on.
On top of that, more than a quarter of pensioners fail to claim their pension credit, according to Unbiased.co.uk's analysis, meaning they are paying more than £2.3 billion more than they need to.
And the impact of these missed benefits on individual households is considerable. Official figures show that four in five low paid workers without children are missing out on tax credits worth at least £38 a week. And half — half! — of all working households entitled to housing benefit don't claim it. So they are going without an average of £37.60 a week.
There's also fairly low take-up of council tax benefit, with up to three million households failing to claim an average of £13 a week.
What are you missing out on?
But how can you know if you're missing out on a helping hand? It's not just unemployed people who qualify for help; if you're employed but on a low income then there's a package of benefits and tax breaks that could make life easier for you.
Similarly, if you have dependents or are a carer, if you're ill or disabled, if you're over 60, if you're pregnant or a new mum, then there's a chance you could be entitled to some extra financial support.
There are a few ways to find out. The government has an anonymous benefits adviser service that lets you look up your specific entitlements or the website Turn2us has a benefits calculator that can give you a good idea what you should be getting.
It only takes a few minutes to use these tools and it could make a huge difference to your income. If you're not confident that you can work it out without some help, you could arrange an appointment at your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
Age UK helped 500,000 pensioners claim all their benefits last year and has a free helpline that can put pensioners in touch with local benefits advisers: 0800 169 6565.
Benefits you need
Some people are too proud to claim the benefits they are entitled to and end up struggling or living hand to mouth. This time of year especially, there are always stories of older people falling ill because they can't afford to heat their homes.
I worry that some of these pensioners would be much more comfortable if they claimed everything they're entitled to.
Everyone pays taxes of some sort, whether they work or not, so no one should feel as though they can't claim the help they need.
Felicity is Yahoo! Finance's money-saving columnist. If you have a money-saving scheme you'd like to see tried out then let us know in the comment box below.
