benefit take up

In the News item (Perceived ineligibility is main barrier to claiming pension credit) today it is reported that the reasons for people not claiming Pension Credit:

“65 per cent of respondents said that they did not claim because they did not think they were eligible and 92 per cent said they would claim if they knew they were eligible;
only two per cent were put off claiming due to a perception that the application process would be too long or too complicated; and
only one per cent of respondents said that they were not claiming because they felt bad asking for benefits or help from the government.”

A quick look at the rest of the report reveals, under “3.2.1 Stigma” -

“Only one per cent of ENRs said, unprompted, that the main reason they have not claimed Pension Credit is because they felt bad asking for benefits or help from the Government. However, when asked whether they agree or disagree with a range of statements on the subject of benefits, 62 per cent agree that they ‘do not like ‘asking’ for benefits’.”

To me that says almost two thirds might not feel bad asking for benefits but they don’t feel great about asking either.