Elderly miss out on rates relief

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7361969.stm

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More than half of pensioners entitled to rebates on rates bills are missing out because of problems filling out application forms, it has been claimed.

Sinn Féin MLA Jennifer McCann said rates relief payments were being tangled up in red tape and bureaucracy.

The West Belfast representative said that while 40,000 low income householders in NI are entitled to rebates, only 19,000 had received them.

She said Finance Minister Peter Robinson must alleviate the problem.

"Recent reports that those entitled to rates relief are still finding it difficult to access that relief is an unacceptable situation," she said.

"Previous experience shows us that up to 50% of those people who are entitled to apply for rates relief don't do so because of bureaucracy and red tape in the application process.

"This is a totally unacceptable situation and I am asking the minister to ensure that pensioners and all those other people who are entitled to rates relief are given it."