A CITY housing association has helped its tenants get almost £500,000 in benefits they were not claiming.

Welfare rights staff from Ardenglen Housing Association in Castlemilk worked with nearly 300 people over the course of a year.

The housing organisation runs a welfare rights service two days a week when people can seek advice on a range of money matters.

Some were not claiming money they were due either because of the complexity of the system or because they did not know they qualified.

In some cases, staff managed to get payments backdated helping to ease financial hardship for residents.

Around £115,000 was obtained in personal independence payments which helps with the extra cost of a long-term health condition or disability.

Carer's allowance accounted for more than £17,700 of the extra cash, child tax credits almost £30,000, disability living allowance almost £16,000 and working tax credit more than £7000.

Older people were able to claim more than £10,600 in pensions credit with other benefits accounting for smaller amounts.

Diane Hendry, head of housing services at Ardenglen, said: "Claiming benefits to which people are perfectly entitled can be complex and time consuming and our approach is not just to help people but to make it as simple and easy to understand as possible.

"It is very clear from these figures people have not been claiming their entitlement and we are delighted to have been able to ease the financial burden on so many."

Housing association chief executive Audrey Simpson said the welfare rights system was an important aspect of the organisation's work.

She added: "Almost half a million pounds returned to people in Castlemilk is a significant boost to the income of nearly 300 people and we encourage all our tenants to make use of this service if and when they need it."