Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of her Department’s Service Modernisation Programme in (a) encouraging more people to apply for pension credit and (b) improving the customer service experience when applying for pension credit.

The modernisation of Retirement Services, which includes Pension Credit, forms a key part of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme. An objective of the team is to understand how the application process should operate in the future and understand the opportunities on how services can be accessed easier and faster for citizens. We are utilising end user research to improve the customer experience on all Pension Credit application routes and using information held internally to reduce the number of questions the citizen must answer. As part of our modernisation, we are engaging with leading external organisations to understand what improvements could be made to help increase Pension Credit take up and improve ease of application.