Moreover, many participants did not know they were eligible or assumed that savings, home ownership, or a partner’s income made them ineligible. Future consideration of Pension Credit among entitled non-recipients was linked to improved awareness and potential changes in financial or personal circumstances.
The DWP also revealed in a separate data release that it received 209,735 Pension Credit applications in the past 52-weeks (24 February 2025 to 22 February 2026) – a 36% decrease or 117,595 fewer applications on the comparable period a year previous.
David Brooks, Head of Policy at leading independent financial services consultancy Broadstone, commented: “This research project from the DWP shines a light on many of the attitudinal and awareness issues that have plagued Pension Credit take up. Among entitled pensioners, there is still a lack of understanding of eligibility and how to apply with many holding assumptions that homeownership or savings may exclude them from this financial support.
There are nearly a million families entitled to Pension Credit who are not currently claiming the benefit and getting vital financial support to these people is paramount to support their quality of life in retirement. However, following the campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit when the benefit was linked to the Winter Fuel Payment, it is a disappointing to see such a huge drop off in the number of applications this year.
“We would hope to see continued and urgent efforts to increase awareness and uptake to support more pensioners in need with this additional income. The research also fires a salutary warning about potential future efforts to means-test the State Pension demonstrating the risk that, even with the best intentions, those most in need could still miss out on crucial income.”
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