DWP to urge 11m older people to check for £3,500 annual income boost in new year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced new plans to continue encouraging more than 11 million older people to check if they qualify for an annual income top-up worth over £3,500 through Pension Credit.

In the new year, DWP will write to pensioners across the UK as part of the annual uprating of State Pension, advising them about the new payment rates.

DWP Minister Laura Trott MP indicated on Monday that the accompanying leaflet has been updated to help promote Pension Credit and will include messaging from this year’s campaign to encourage take-up of the benefit which can be a passport to additional help with housing, heating and Council Tax.Ms Trott said that an additional £1.8m has been approved for marketing activity until the end of this financial year, on April 5.

Some 149,579 Pension Credit claims were received by DWP between April and October this year with 118,598 of those now processed.DWP has also reassigned the full time equivalent of 100 colleagues and recruited 85 temporary staff to process the increased levels of Pension Credit claims following a successful UK-wide awareness campaign in June.Ms Trott said: “In the new year, DWP will again write to over 11 million pensioners as part of the annual uprating of State Pension.