DWP confirms 770,000 people of State Pension age could be due up to £278 extra each week

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed that across the UK, there are an estimated 770,000 people of State Pension age who qualify for a ‘gateway’ benefit which can provide up to £278 extra each week plus access to other discounts on housing, Council Tax and TV licences.

DWP minister, Guy Opperman MP, shared the statistics in a written response to a Pension Credit query from Conservative MP, Sir John Hayes, who asked how many pensioners in the UK qualify for Pension Credit, but are not claiming the benefit.

Mr Opperman’s response highlighted a ‘Pension Credit Awareness Day’ on Wednesday, June 15 aimed at increasing coverage of the benefit to encourage more older people to make a claim.He said: “In Great Britain, there are an estimated 770,000 entitled non-recipients of Pension Credit.“We have already undertaken a range of actions to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up.”He highlighted that “initial internal management information suggests that new claims for Pension Credit in the 12 months to December 2021 were around 30% higher compared to the 12 months to December 2019”.He continued: “Earlier this year, we directly targeted over 11 million pensioners with information about Pension Credit and the additional support it can provide in the leaflet accompanying their annual up-rating notification.“However, it is more important now than ever before that we ensure all eligible pensioners claim the vital financial help which Pension Credit provides.”The DWP launched a new awareness campaign in April and said up to £1.7 billion of available Pension Credit went unclaimed - on average, this amounted to around £1,900 per year for each family entitled to receive the ‘gateway’ benefit.Mr Opperman