Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateMatt Rodda
Main Page: Matt Rodda (Labour - Reading Central)Department Debates - View all Matt Rodda's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
(1 year, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberNearly 1 million pensioners are not receiving pension credit to which they are entitled. To make matters worse, each of those 1 million pensioners is also missing out on a £900 payment from the Government to help them with heating, as the payment is available only to those on pension credit. Why have the Government been so ineffective at raising the take-up of pension credit? Will she also explain why on earth they linked help with heating to pension credit when they knew that 1 million pensioners would miss out as a result?
I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s interest in pension credit. I hope he will have heard my previous answer about all we are doing to boost take-up and indeed the success that we had before Christmas. I have spoken to him previously about the work we are doing to automate it and make greater use of data; this is an absolute priority for me and for this Government.