Oral Answers to Questions

Lewis Atkinson Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Liz Kendall]

The hon. Lady’s party left nearly a million young people not in education, employment or training, and almost a record number of people—2.8 million— out of work owing to long-term sickness. They failed to introduce reforms to join up work, health and skills properly, and they have not learnt from those mistakes. I am proud that this Government are investing an extra £240 million to get Britain working again, giving people the opportunities that they need to work and build a better life.

[Lewis Atkinson (Sunderland Central) (Lab)]

4. What steps she is taking to increase uptake of pension credit in winter 2024-25.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

10. What steps her Department is taking to help increase uptake of pension credit.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Secretary, His Majesty's Treasury (Emma Reynolds)]

We have launched the next phase of our pension credit campaign on radio, TV and print media, and the Government have written to 120,000 pensioners on housing benefit who may be eligible but are not currently claiming pension credit. After less than five months in government, we are bringing forward the merger of housing benefit and pension credit, which the Conservatives announced 13 years ago but failed to deliver.

[Lewis Atkinson]

Under the previous Conservative Government, many eligible pensioners in Sunderland Central did not receive the pension credit that they were due. When I speak to organisations such as Age UK Sunderland, they tell me that that was often because people did not know how and whether to claim. How many pensioners are now taking up pension credit thanks to the actions taken by this Government?

[Emma Reynolds]

We have seen a 152% increase in pension credit claims since late July, with over 74,000 pension credit claims up to mid-September. We know that many local authorities and, indeed, Members of this House—including me last Thursday—are helping pensioners on low incomes to ascertain whether they are due pension credit.