Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken through advertisements to help ensure that all pensioners who are eligible for Pension Credit are aware of their eligibility.

To raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up, the Department made a multimillion pound investment in a marketing campaign in the last year. The campaign included advertising on national TV, regional and national newspapers and local and national broadcast radio. We used ‘Out of Home’ channels, which included advertising on the sides of buses and interior bus panels as well as digital street displays and digital information screens in Post Offices and GP surgeries across GB.

Our online marketing activity included promotion of Pension Credit on social media, via internet search engines and sponsored advertising on targeted websites that pensioners, their friends and family are likely to visit.

Within our network of jobcentres, we provided customers with leaflets and arranged for Jobcentres to display Pension Credit posters. We engaged with Local Authorities nationwide through the Government Communication Service local network and provided them with promotional materials to enable them to support the campaign. Our digital toolkit was also updated with information and resources that any stakeholder can use to help promote Pension Credit.

I very recently held an event with MPs to encourage their further support and promotion of Pension Credit.

In June 2022, we held a Pension Credit awareness media ‘day of action’ working in close collaboration with broadcasters, newspapers and other partners such as Age UK, Independent Age and the private sector to reach out to pensioners to promote Pension Credit through their channels. This led to Pension Credit news bulletins on ITV, mentions by financial influencer Martin Lewis and also led to Pension Credit trending in the top 20 on Twitter.

In June, we will again encourage media outlets and partners to join us in promoting Pension Credit.

A key message of the campaign has been to highlight that receiving even a small amount of Pension Credit can act as a passport to a range of other benefits including help with rent, heating and a free TV licence for the over 75s. We also heavily publicised the additional cost of living payments, which Pension Credit claimants are entitled to

As part of the annual uprating of State Pension, we once again wrote to over 11 million pensioners promoting Pension Credit in the accompanying materials.