Pensioner poverty needs urgent action

The UK government has been accused of ducking the responsibility of ensuring all eligible pensioners receive pension credit, it was claimed yesterday.

SNP MP Patricia Gibson said millions of Scots pensioners were losing out on the benefits to which they were entitled due to a lack of effort by the government.

Almost two million people aged 65 and over are believed to be living below the poverty line the UK. However, since 2017 the government has retained £7 billion worth of unclaimed Pension Credit, the income-related benefit specifically designed to lift pensioners out of poverty.

The charity Independent Age believes there are 123,000 households in Scotland with pensioners eligible for pension credit that have not claimed it – which could mean they are missing out on £332 million worth of payments.

Raising the issue in the Commons during questions to the Leader of the House, Ms Gibson said: “In my constituency, over £7 million of pension credit payments are not claimed and are therefore retained by the Treasury... that is occurring as we witness an increase in pensioner poverty.” When she asked for a government statement setting out how to ensure pensioners claimed the money, she was told to raise the issue with the Department for Work and Pensions.

Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, Lesley Laird, also demanded the government do more than encourage people to apply for pension credit through an online toolkit.

A spokesman for the DWP said pensioner poverty rates were falling and that everyone who claimed a state pension received a letter encouraging them to contact the department directly over the phone to discuss the possibility of pension credit entitlement.