Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase the uptake of pension credit by people who are eligible.

We are committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to and the Department targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible at pivotal stages such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances.

We use a wide range of channels to communicate information about Pension Credit to potential customers, including information on gov.uk, in leaflets and by telephone.

We believe that one of the best ways to reach those eligible customers who may be reluctant to claim is through trusted messengers working in the community and DWP provides a web-based Pension Credit toolkit at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit containing a range of resources for anyone working with pensioners. It contains guides to Pension Credit, examples of the reasons why eligible customers might not claim, ideas for encouraging take-up, and makes available a range of publicity material.

To increase take-up we are currently engaging with community partners through the Age Action Alliance and have recently begun a series of workshops designed to publicise the toolkit resources and to allow partners to share best practice of what works to encourage take-up.