Half a million pound mark reached in money secured for Plymouth voters by Luke Pollard MP

• £516,176.56 secured by Luke Pollard and his team in overpaid taxes, lost benefits or withheld support from Government agencies for people in need in Plymouth
• Milestone broken as General Election looms

Half a million pounds has been returned to voters in Plymouth in overpaid taxes, lost benefits or withheld support thanks to Luke Pollard and his team of caseworkers. Since being elected in 2017, Luke has been keeping track of the sums of money him and his team have secured for constituents who have asked him for help.

The £500,000 mark was reach with the successful chasing of a payment of child maintenance from a runaway father to a single parent in Plymouth.

Luke said:

“Plymouth doesn’t get its fair share of funding but every day people are missing out on welfare support or over-paying taxes. As well as standing up for Plymouth in Parliament me and my team work to get back money that is owed in missing welfare support, child maintenance and overpaid taxes. Hitting the half a million pound mark in just two years as an MP shows how hard my team works and how much people in Plymouth are missing out on.

“The chaotic and cruel welfare system and a complex tax system means that often people don’t know they’re eligible for support or are refused welfare they are entitled to. Plymouth is a low wage city and each and every pound returned to people in Plymouth by me and my team not only improves the personal finances of that person and their family but is more money in the Plymouth economy.”

Luke is currently writing to pensioners who are to lose out on free TV licences under a Government u-turn encouraging people over 75 to check whether they are entitled to Pension Credit that tops up the incomes of the poorest pensioners. Those pensioners over 75 in receipt of Pension Credit will get to keep their free TV licence but if you’re not on Pension Credit you’ll have to pay for your TV licence. We know that Pension Credit has one of the lowest take ups of any welfare support mechanism and Luke is encouraging people in Plymouth to claim for what they’re entitled to.

Luke added:

“These pensioners have paid into the tax system all their lives and it is right they get what they are entitled to. People over 75 in Plymouth were promised they would keep their free TV licences at the last General Election only for that pledge to be broken by Ministers. I am determined to fight this policy and encouraging people to see if they’re eligible for Pension Credit could help some of our poorest pensioners in the city.”