Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to tackle delays in processing claims for pension credit.

We have deployed more than 500 additional staff to process the increase in Pension Credit claims.

Pensioners won't miss out on Winter Fuel Payments even if their Pension Credit claim takes longer to process than usual. Where the customer is eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment, the Department aims to make this payment within 2 weeks of the award of Pension Credit.