How big is the issue of unclaimed benefits?

As household budgets are put under even more pressure there’s never been a more important time for people to maximise their income.

Currently, over 8m households in the UK are missing out on benefits worth nearly £16bn. The most common reason for this is that people are either unaware of the benefits they’re entitled to – or they assume they’re not eligible.

Our partnership with Inbest means that all customers completing a budget through our Embark software know exactly what they’re entitled to when it comes to benefits, grants and social funding.

The benefits system can be complex, and many find it difficult to navigate, leading to not many people claiming at all. Changes in the welfare system and the introduction of new support – such as those to support the costof-living crisis – can make it more difficult to understand what someone might be entitled to. Integrated into Embark, the Inbest Benefits Calculator helps to simplify the process.

£423
Unclaimed benefits: 67% of customers can get additional benefits of £423 per month

£740
5% of people see an average total benefits entitlement of £740 per months

80%
Total benefits: 80% of customers can get total benefits of £661 per month

How does Inbest compare to the rest?

As part of our affordability solution, Inbest offers the widest benefits coverage across the UK, which includes means-tested, contributory, non-contributory, passported benefits and social tariffs.

InBest’s integration also covers areas that other benefits calculators don’t, including grants and council support schemes as well as personalised nudges for the agent or client when new seasonal benefits or newly introduced benefits become available. Once a budget is completed, Inbest will work in the background to identify any missed benefits.

There will be two processes, depending on whether or not the customer gives consent for the Inbest calculator to be used.

With consent

1. Customer gives consent at the start of the income and expenditure workflow for the Inbest calculator to run in the background to spot any potential gaps in benefits income.
2. Once completed, the dashboard will state that they will be eligible for additional benefits and will present back an amount that they might be able to claim, asking them to ‘take action now’.
3. Customer then clicks through pre-populated workflow and is presented with a final view of potential benefits entitlement and supported with applying for those benefits.

Without consent

1. Customer starts the workflow and goes through the 1. income and expenditure process as usual.
2. Once completed, the dashboard will state that they may be eligible for additional benefits and will present back an amount that they might be able to claim. They can give consent for data to be shared with Inbest and ‘take action now’ to fully identify benefits.
3. Customer then clicks through pre-populated Inbest workflow and is presented with a final view of potential benefits entitlement and supported with applying for those benefits.

Case Study

Joe and Mary, a couple in their mid-40s, live in a privately rented home in Birmingham and, prior to completing their income and expenditure with Embark, received £775 per month in benefits.

This included:

• £360 per month in Universal Credits
• £302 per month because Joe is caring for his ill mother
• Warm Home Discount worth £150 per year
• £25 per month through the Help to Save Scheme

Battling the cost-of-living crisis, Joe and Mary wanted to explore any extra avenues of income and through Embark (and the integrated benefits calculator by Inbest), they were able to realise an uplift of £370 and £300 per year (totalling £670) through newly identified water and telecom social tariffs.

It took Joe and Mary five minutes to detail their situation and they saw an uplift of £670 per year!