Benefits muddle

HUGE amounts of public money could be saved if there was a truly universal credit. Instead we have attendance allowance, carer’s allowance, disability living allowance, employment and support allowance, income support, industrial injuries disablement benefit, jobseeker’s allowance, pension credit, personal independence payments, state pension, universal credit, child benefit, guardian’s allowance, working tax credits and child tax credits.

Many years ago, I worked in a Job Centre where the complicated rules and processes for paying jobseeker’s allowance ran to several large folders. Few of us understood all the intricacies of the system.

It seems from the constant errors made in benefit payments that this complexity remains. No wonder the Government has reported overpayments of £8.6billion and underpayments of £2.6 billion in 2021. Add to this the recently exposed scandal of underpaid widows’ state pensions and the consistent failure to notify women of changes to their state pension age, and it’s easy to see the system urgently needs simplifying.

KAREN CARTWRIGHT, redditch, Worcs.