Council papers put £31m of unclaimed benefits in Horsham district, an average of £3,374 for each of 9,100 households. Councillors see the report on 9 September.

Around 9,100 households in Horsham district are missing out on benefits they are entitled to, worth an average of £3,374 each a year and about £31m in total. That estimate is in a draft Cabinet report published by Horsham District Council, which asks for money to go and find them.

The report goes to the Communities and Place Policy and Scrutiny Committee at 5.30pm on Wednesday 9 September, then to Cabinet on 23 September (Low Income Family Tracker report, PDF).

The £31m figure comes from Policy in Practice, the company that sells the software. The report says the estimate is based on publicly available data from the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and other public bodies, and dates from an October 2025 analysis.

Key figures panel. Unclaimed benefits in Horsham district: about £31m in total, around 9,100 households affected, an average of £3,374 per household per year. The council proposes to spend £135,584 a year, made up of £121,752 over three years for the software, £50,000 for a Cost of Living Officer and £45,000 for a Citizens Advice adviser.
Graphic by Horsham Daily, from Horsham District Council's Low Income Family Tracker report to Cabinet, September 2026.
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What is going unclaimed

The report lists the payments the software checks for. They fall into three groups:

  • Centrally administered: Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Carer’s Allowance and Child Benefit.
  • Locally administered: Council Tax Support, Housing Benefit for pensioners, free school meals, and Healthy Start and Best Start Foods.
  • Social tariffs and energy support: water, broadband, the Warm Home Discount and TV licences.

That last group is the one most often missed, because none of it arrives automatically. A water social tariff and a broadband social tariff both have to be applied for, from the company, by the customer.

What the council wants to buy

The proposal is a three-year subscription to the Low Income Family Tracker, plus two people to use it. The costs set out in the report are:

  • the tracker itself, including 20,000 texts and 4,000 letters a year: £116,500 over three years
  • a Better Off Calculator, five staff licences plus a self-service tool for the council website: £5,252 over three years
  • one full-time Cost of Living Officer at the council: £50,000 a year
  • funding one full-time outreach worker at Citizens Advice: £45,000 a year

Software is therefore £121,752 across the three years. Adding the two posts, that is £135,584 a year once everything is running. The council expects to spend £45,600 of it in 2026/27, assuming a 1 December start, and says it was told in August 2026 that it will receive £75,000 from the Crisis and Resilience Fund for this year. Full Council has to approve the use of the reserve.

The council has bought this product before. It used it between April 2023 and January 2025, and the report estimates residents claimed up to £700,000 as a result. It was dropped because it was “clunky and resource intensive”, and in January 2025 officers thought there would be “negligible value” in carrying on. The report says the software has since improved and draws on a wider data set.

One detail shows how the numbers changed minds. Officers had planned to buy it again from April 2027. The report says that “when the scale of the unclaimed benefit was understood, it was considered appropriate to ‘fast track’ the decision”.

The hardship behind the report

The report sets out why officers think this is urgent, using figures from two local organisations:

  • Citizens Advice saw a 27% increase between January and March 2026 in people needing charitable and food bank support, and an 11% rise in housing issues.
  • Horsham Matters supported 2,846 clients through 390 food bank sessions between 1 January and 31 July 2026, and says it is helping increasing numbers of working households.

Officers name housing costs, fuel and transport, utilities and food as the main pressures, and report rising numbers of households in debt or on a negative budget, meaning their income does not cover their basic outgoings.

The report also cites results from four other councils that use the same software, including Bracknell Forest, which it says saw £36 of income gained for residents for every £1 invested, and South Cambridgeshire, which increased the number of children getting free school meals by 81.

What it means for you

You do not have to wait for the council to buy anything. If you think you may be missing something, three doors are open now.

  • Citizens Advice at Lower Tanbridge Way, Horsham RH12 1PJ, open Monday to Friday 10am to 4pm, adviceline 0808 278 7969. It runs outreach sessions across the district (Horsham centre details).
  • Horsham Matters runs 15 food bank sessions a week across the district, including a mobile Hub on the Move that visits Billingshurst, Broadbridge Heath, Storrington, Pulborough and Henfield. You need a voucher first: call or WhatsApp 0300 124 0204, or email support@horsham-matters.org.uk (get help with food).
  • Council Tax Support is applied for through the district council, and is one of the locally administered payments the report says is being missed (council tax and benefits).

Pension Credit is worth checking on behalf of an older relative in particular. It is the gateway to other help, and it is the payment national take-up figures consistently show is most often left unclaimed.

Our guide to Horsham council tax bands sets out the discounts and exemptions that are missed most often, including the 25% single-person discount.

What happens next

Wednesday’s scrutiny committee cannot approve the spending. It reviews the draft report and can put questions and recommendations to the Cabinet member before Cabinet decides on 23 September. Full Council then has to approve the use of up to £45,600 from the Cost of Living earmarked reserve for this year.

The same meeting takes a question and answer session with Southern Water and reviews the Bishopric and Carfax public realm scheme, which goes to the same Cabinet meeting. Meetings are held at Albery House and livestreamed (agenda and papers).

Sources