Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of benefit entitlement among pensioners.

We have been running an extensive communications campaign since April 2022 to raise awareness of Pension Credit and encourage eligible pensioners to check their eligibility and apply. The main features of the campaign included advertising in regional and national newspapers, on national and local broadcast radio and across selected TV channels. We have also undertaken mini-bursts of communications activity to highlighted that successful Pension Credit claims mean qualification for Cost of Living Payments.

There is a strong indication that it is having a positive effect. The number of Pension Credit applications is up by around 75% in the 12 months to May 2023 compared to the same period the year before.

In July we launched an “Invitation to Claim” trial which involved contacting approximately 2,500 pensioner households identified as being likely to be entitled to Pension Credit and encouraging them to contact DWP and make a claim.