DEMENTIA sufferers and their carers could miss out on more than £750,000 of benefits if a South Yorkshire charity cannot raise £30,000 by the end of the year.
The Barnsley branch of the Alzheimer's Society employs a specialist benefits adviser to help families in Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster access funding.
In the last financial year Chris Berry has given advice to 225 families – helping them claim
more than £523,000 in benefits.
But the branch is struggling to keep the service running because of a lack of funding. Department of Work and Pensions cash ended last year and the group now needs to find £30,000 to keep it going.
Branch manager Linda Pattison said: "These benefits are people's rights. The money cannot make dementia go away, but it can make life a lot easier for people. The problem is we cannot sustain the project without proper funding and, despite a lot of hard work, so far it's proving so difficult to get the financial help we and the service needs."
Chris, who has 10 years' experience in benefit entitlement, said many families simply do not know how to access funding they are entitled to.
"The complexity of the whole benefit system is what stops many people from claiming," he added.
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