THE Pension Service has teamed up with the local rural police office, the Beatmobile, taking entitlement advice to pensioners in rural areas.

The Pension Service has launched a nationwide campaign entitled Your Money to raise awareness of the amount of funds that go uncollected.

Local service delivery manager Heather Buckingham-Jones said: "The police surgeries are a good way for us to reach rural areas. It has got us in touch with people we wouldn't otherwise have seen and hopefully the more we go out into the community, the more familiar people will be with us."

At these drop-in surgeries residents can expect to meet "well-trained, experienced and friendly staff", said Mrs Buckingham-Jones, who can answer queries, provide information on entitlements and help fill in application forms.

Home visits can be arranged for vulnerable customers or discussed over the phone.

She said: "If we can't answer a query we will direct people to an organisation that can. We try to take a holistic approach and look at the person as a whole to see how we can make their life better."

Some of the main benefits enquired about are the disability living allowance, retirement pensions, attendence allowance, pension credit and housing benefit.

The attendance allowance is a benefit for people who need personal care, such as washing and helping in and out of bed. It is often overlooked, said Mrs Buckingham-Jones, because relatives might perform these jobs and not know the entitlement still applied. The minimum attendance allowance is £38.30 per week, the maximum £57.20 per week.

"It can add up to quite a lot of money," she said. "And boost pension credits too. Sometimes it's the little things we do, like finding an optician or hairdresser to make home visits, that can make a huge difference to quality of life."

For more details, ring 0845 6060265.

The Beatmobile visits rural parts of the Epping Forest district fortnightly. For times and venues, ring your local police station.