The average amount of money lost is £1,013, but some elderly homeowners are failing to claim £7,000 a year they are entitled to after a lifetime of paying taxes.

Overall six in 10 pensioner property owners missing out on full benefits entitlement, revealed new research.

Four in 10 who are eligible for State support are failing to claim any benefit while two in 10 are claiming but not receiving their full entitlement.

The figures are particularly worrying coming as they do at a time when living costs are rising and fixed incomes, like pensions, are painfully squeezed.

Stephen Lowe, of investment specialists Just Group, which commissioned the study, said: “Many pensioners are struggling for income and inflation is rising, but once again we found far too many missing out on State help.

“The shortfall can be thousands of pounds a year that would make a massive difference to people’s lives.

“One of the first tasks when meeting clients is for the adviser to check their entitlement to benefits.

“We found about four in 10 were eligible to receive one or more benefits, but that 61 per cent were either not claiming anything or claiming and receiving too little. 

“That’s a little lower than recent years, but still a cause for concern.”

In 2017 the average value of benefits underclaimed rose sharply to £1,013. 

Of the benefits investigated by researchers, the Guarantee Pension Credit has the biggest amount of unclaimed cash.

Yet this is worth up to £8,286 a year for a single person and £12,352 for a couple.

One in three of those eligible for Guarantee Pension Credit failed to claim with an average loss of £3,431. 

All of those not claiming the benefit were missing at least £1,000 a year and in one case the loss was £8,060 a year.

Savings Pension Credit is the least likely benefit to be claimed with an average unclaimed value of £275 a year.

Council Tax Reduction is another area of concern where fewer than half of those eligible are claiming and the average amount being lost is £491 a year.

Mr Lowe said: “The figures make clear that in a complex system people are struggling to get to grips with what State Benefits they are entitled to.

“It strengthens the case for making free guidance the default option for all those heading into retirement – unless they specifically opt out – and that guidance should include information about entitlements to.

“It is possible that homeowners in particular may think limited support is available, although owning a property does not necessarily mean you have adequate income in retirement.

“That may explain why four in 10 who could get help are failing to claim any benefit. 

“Equally worrying are those who are getting one benefit, nearly three in 10 of them are missing out on at least one other benefit.”

The research found that overall one in four of those eligible were missing out on more than £1,000 a year and one in five were missing out on between £500 and £1000 a year. 

Half of those eligible were missing out on at least one benefit and one in 10 were missing out on two benefits.

The largest amount of lost benefit discovered among Just Group clients was £7,142 a year for a 64-year-old in Norfolk. 

The oldest client was a 98-year-old from East Anglia who was missing out on nearly £410 a year Council Tax Reduction.

The most recent official figures suggest around 1.4m families – more than in 2015/16 – who were entitled to receive Pension Credit (either Guarantee or Savings) did not claim the benefit, to a total cost of £3.3bn or £2,000 per family. 

Overall, about 88 per cent of pensioner couples and 63 per cent of single pensioners own their own homes.

To find out if you are eligible for any State Benefits, visit the government website direct.gov.uk or go to Citizens Advice.