York has been chosen to pioneer a £15m national scheme to help pensioners who are not getting the benefits they are entitled to.

Social Security secretary Harriet Harman today announced that the city will be one of nine areas where the scheme will be piloted.

Local authority and DSS records will be used to trace pensioners who could claim Income Support but are not doing so, and they will then be contacted and advised that they could claim more money.

Ms Harman said that around one million pensioners in the UK were not claiming benefits they are entitled to, particularly women.

"We use computers for catching people who are not entitled to benefits," said Ms Harman.

"Now it's time we used the technology to find the people who deserve to receive the benefit."

The £15 million pilot will run for six months, starting next month.

Joan Merryweather, of the York and District Pensioners Association said she had been invited to a meeting about the scheme at the York Benefit Agency, and the letter she had received from them gave an estimate that 2,000 people in the York area were not claiming what they could.

"We welcome anything that helps the pensioners," she said.

Many pensioners did not like claiming benefits, she said: "A lot of people of our generation don't like going cap in hand, and don't like social services poking around their private affairs, it's not the way we were brought up."

She also pointed out that many may face a benefit trap where they are worse off than people on Income Support.

"If you're a pensioner who's getting a bit too much to qualify, then you can't claim anything, while if you're on Income Support you can get help with the council tax and with your rent."

Helen Berrill from Age Concern York agreed, saying: "People who get occupational pensions may be just above benefit levels and lose out."

However, she welcomed the scheme: "Anything that ensures that people are getting what they are entitled to is a good thing. "It is difficult to reach people who aren't aware what they can claim."

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