LENT DAY 31: Claim or not claim (From News Shopper)

LENT DAY 31: Claim or not claim

9:50pm Saturday 28th March 2009 in Features

I've been in a bit of a quandary in the days after discovering I could be eligible to more than £46 a week in benefits.

It does take away a bit from my challenge if I increase my fake weekly income as it would not be so far away from my real one.

But then I did read somewhere that more than £9.9 billion in means-tested benefits goes unclaimed each year.

So I guess it is quite a reasonable suggestion that many people live on minimum wage and fail to claim any benefits.

I wonder if that is because they don't know about it or because it's a pride thing- not wanting to 'scrounge' off the system.

To be honest, the Government has built this complex benefits system to help people on low incomes, to redress the balance after taking tax off and charging council tax.

I think anyone who is eligible to claim extra financial help, if they are on a low income, should claim.

But for my challenge.. I think I'll stick to my budget from before.

Only a week and a half to go!