An additional £44.1 million of benefits has been claimed by over 9,500 people through the Department for Communities ‘Make the Call’ campaign this year.
The figure for 2019-20 brings the total for additional entitlements claimed to over a quarter of a billion pounds since 2005.
The ‘Make the Call’ service supports people in accessing benefits and services to which they are entitled but have not been claiming.
The additional £262 million claimed over the last 15 years has been generated for people here, many of whom are vulnerable through age or disability, illness or adverse circumstances.
Communities Minister Carál Ní Chuilín said: “The aim of ‘Make the Call’ is to support people when they need it most. Major life changes such as taking on caring responsibilities, illness or disability, retirement or bereavement can mean people become entitled to a range of different benefits and supports or services.
“Often people don’t realise that there is support out there to assist them during such difficult times, which have increased now due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With ‘Make the Call’ we are actively reaching out to those thousands of people each year in situations where every pound generated can help improve someone’s life.”
In addition to supporting the uptake of unclaimed benefit, the ‘Make the Call’ campaign connects people to other services and supports available across the wider government, voluntary and community sectors.
