Hard up households could boost their income by thousands of pounds each year through a debt help scheme, they have been told. £23 billion of Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) benefits goes unclaimed every year because of a lack of awareness and complicated application processes.

Tje Money Matters pilot scheme was launched in seven Greater Manchester schools in low-income areas in 2022, which saw a full-time Financial Inclusion Officer (FIO) help families claim the benefits they are entitled to.

Now, more than 300 families are around £500,000 better off - an average of £1,634-a-year each. A spokesperson for Kellogg’s, which set up Money Matters with nonprofit Resolve Poverty, said: “Through our Breakfast Club network, we saw the opportunity to help parents currently struggling on

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