ENFIELD North MP Joan Ryan is calling on ministers to change the name of Council Tax Benefit to Council Tax Rebate to encourage more pensioners to claim.

Ms Ryan used the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings to pose the question to Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday, saying older people believed there was a stigma surrounding benefits.

She said: “A name change would increase take-up and lift thousands of pensioners out of poverty, including up to 20,000 veterans. It is in fact a rebate and used to be called as such, but when it was changed, take-up dropped significantly.”

“It is very distressing to think that those brave veterans who need the money could be missing out and D-Day is a fitting anniversary to acknowledge the sacrifices they made in the past by ensuring they benefit today.”

Ms Ryan also had a meeting with Kitty Ussher, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions, and Chris Simpkins, director general of the Royal British Legion to discuss the issue.

There has been overwhelming support for the name change, which Ms Ryan believes could take place within a matter of weeks.

The Royal British Legion has already handed in a petition with more than 25,000 signatures calling for the name change.

Mr Simpkins said: "The legion is regularly contacted by older people who struggle to pay their council tax from their fixed incomes.

“Yet only a little over half of all pensioners who qualify for Council Tax Benefit make a claim, partly because of uncertainty about eligibility, an aversion to benefits or due to the complexity of making a claim."