You should not need to resort to working the system to get a well deserved reward for a lifetimes hard graft, and paying contributions into a system that others seem to just be able enter the UK and take advantage of.
We should have a system whereby a person needs to have been in fulltime employment and paying all their dues for a minimum of ten years, beforeANY benefits can be claimed.
Let me enlighten you.
Parliament and the Courts determine who should and should not be able to access benefit income.
The 'system' is extremely complicated for two reasons. The first is that not a lot of thought is given by Parliament when they decide to draft a piece of Legislation. More often that not what the law says is not entirely what the politicians expected it to say. Add to that the many challenges made through the courts as to what the legislation ought to say.
Now because of these two things many will find that the 'system' is far too complicated to understand, hence the reason why some will not attempt to make a claim in the first place.
Because of all of this utter confusion you do have to 'play the system' as the system is not set up to make everything that you are entitled to claim for easy to access.
The government decided to try to rectify this and brought out Universal Credit. A brilliant idea only it does not work. The have made a complete hash of the whole thing plus the DWP who try to operate it are as much in the dark as are the public.
So, the system is at breaking point. On top of that the DWP will not advise anybody as to what financial help is available. You are told that it is your job to find out somehow and then you can make a claim.
It is not unknown for some people to put a claim in for everything they find out irrespective of whether they are entitled to it - 'try your luck' is the name of the game for some.