Really?

Recently the standards of proof-reading and checking at the BBC have been slipping. This quote is from an item yesterday about the amount of unclaimed pension benefits in the UK.

[pensioners should be able to...] "get their hands on an average of £4.8 billion per year".

Really? An average? They can get that each, can they? I must encourage my dad to apply. Or do they by any chance mean a "total".