£1.4bn goes begging as jobseekers fail to claim allowances

More than half a million people who were entitled to claim jobseekers allowance failed to do so in 2004-05, according to the latest government statistics.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions showed that there was some evidence of a small decrease in take-up of jobseekers allowance between 2003-04 and 2004-05, leaving £1.4bn left unclaimed.

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Take-up appeared to be lowest among single females.

There were 530,000 recipients of jobseeker’s allowance in 2004-05, receiving £1.7bn of benefit.