Nearly 900,000 pensioner households are missing out on £2.4 billion a year in pension credit because take-up stands at just 62 per cent, according to figures cited by Age UK and Independent Age. The two charities say the Government should run an all-encompassing campaign to encourage older people to claim every benefit they qualify for, rather than running separate awareness drives for individual entitlements. If pension credit, housing benefit and council tax reduction all reached 100 per cent take-up, 280,000 pensioners could be lifted out of poverty entirely, they argue, with a further 770,000 gaining additional income though still living below the poverty line.
The charities point to widespread unclaimed support across multiple benefits. Some 270,000 households eligible for housing benefit are not claiming the £1.3 billion available to them, despite a higher take-up rate of 83 per cent. Council tax reductions show even lower take-up, with 1.65 million people missing out on £2 billion worth of support because only half of eligible claimants come forward. Attendance Allowance, worth either £76.70 or £114.60 a week for older people needing care support, has a 69 per cent take-up rate, leaving 1.1 million people without access to £5.2 billion in annual assistance.
Age UK and Independent Age say the barriers preventing uptake include lack of awareness, confusion over eligibility, complicated application forms, digital exclusion and stigma. They note that pension credit take-up has remained stuck between 60 and 65 per cent for over a decade. The charities advocate for a single co-ordinated strategy that would bring all entitlements together in one place, creating efficiencies and helping to identify gaps in provision. They emphasise that this support can be life-changing, enabling pensioners to afford heating, food and social contact rather than struggling in poverty.
The Department for Work and Pensions said it is working to increase take-up and highlighted that an additional 33,500 pension credit awards were made in 2025 through its largest ever awareness campaign. The department added that pensioner poverty rates have fallen since 2021-22 and pointed to its £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund, which allows councils to run benefit support checks. For elderly people not well off, pension credit tops up weekly income to a minimum of £238 for single people and £363.25 for couples, and also opens access to additional help with housing, heating, council tax and other household costs.
For people struggling to understand what support they qualify for, Age UK operates a free helpline on 0800 678 1602, while Independent Age can be reached on 0800 319 6789. Both organisations have specialist staff who can help work out entitlements and assist with applications, and can also make calls on behalf of relatives. For savers and pensioners, unclaimed benefits represent thousands of pounds a year in lost income that could improve living standards and reduce financial hardship.