Pensions - Articles - Check your pension credit as cost of living deadline looms

 Helen Morrissey, senior pensions and retirement analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown: “People have faced huge financial challenges this year and need to claim all the support they can to help them through the next few months. Pensioners in particular have faced a tough time as surging food and energy bills take huge chunks out of their income and for many pensioners it’s been a real battle.

 Pension Credit tops up the income of the poorest pensioners and acts as a valuable gateway to other support such as help with council tax and NHS costs. Claimants aged 75 and above can also get a free TV licence. This year Pension Credit claimants have also been able to claim extra cost of living payments from the government with a £324 payment being paid recently and a further £900 due to be paid in instalments next year. Such support can make a huge difference and yet Pension Credit remains massively underclaimed.

 There are several reasons for this. People don’t realise you can claim if you own your own home or if you have savings for instance. However, the deadline to submit a successful claim for Pension Credit and qualify for the £324 cost of living payment is looming and it is vital that as many people as possible claim.

 Applications can be submitted online, on the phone or by post – though beware of Christmas post backlogs-if you think either yourself or a loved one might qualify then it’s well worth picking up the phone or getting online before the 18 December deadline to see if you can make a claim. There have been reports that DWP are dealing with a backlog after a surge in applications so there may be some delay in processing your claim but if you are eligible and you submit your claim in time you will benefit.”