Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will assess the potential merits of introducing time-bound targets for increasing Pension Credit uptake.

The latest Pension Credit take-up statistics covering 2018-19 were published on 29 October 2020, which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2018-to-2019. They show a small but encouraging improvement in the take-up of Pension Credit. Take-up of Guarantee Credit – the safety-net element of Pension Credit – has risen from 68% to 70% of those eligible to claim it. The statistics also show a significant improvement in the take-up of Pension Credit by expenditure, with some 76% of Pension Credit being claimed, up from 70% in the previous year.

This year we took steps to raise awareness of Pension Credit by launching a campaign aimed at dispelling some of the common misconceptions about Pension Credit eligibility. We engaged with our stakeholders to ensure that the key campaign messages could be widely disseminated because we know that trusted organisations working in the community are often one of the first places that people are likely to go to seek information.

We have updated our online Pension Credit toolkit (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit) with the recent awareness campaign materials to supplement the resources it already contains for those working with pensioners, such as guides to Pension Credit and information designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit.

In May we also launched the digital ‘Apply for Pension Credit’ (https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim) service as part of our Covid 19 response to help people claim Pension Credit online with minimal delay and to ensure they can do so while adhering to social distancing or shielding measures. This online claim service for Pension Credit supplements the existing free Pension Credit claim line number (0800 99 1234) and postal claim facilities and around 50% of claims are being made using it.

We continue working with stakeholders to find the best ways to reach eligible pensioners and raise awareness of Pension Credit.