Nearly a million families miss out on £2.6bn in unclaimed pension credit, data reveals

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data for the financial year ending 2024 showed that up to one million pensioner families could be missing out on an average of £2,600 a year in Pension Credit. 

There were up to 910,000 families who were entitled but did not claim. 

Up to £2.5bn of Pension Credit went unclaimed, up from £1.5bn the previous year. 

On average, families who didn’t claim missed out on £2,600 per year, an increase from £1,900 in the previous year.

Stephen Lowe, director at Just Group, said: “Today’s figures show the huge sums of Pension Credit that are going unclaimed by many of the nation’s poorest pensioners, who are missing out on thousands of pounds a year of valuable extra income.

“The data published today runs to the end of the 2024 Financial Year which means that only next year will we see whether the restriction of Winter Fuel Payments to those eligible for Pension Credit, and the consequent campaign to boost the number of Pension Credit claimants, has made an impact. 

“The data on weekly claims that we have seen so far suggests a strong increase in take up but it seem likely there will still be hundreds of thousands of eligible retirees missing out.”

Lowe added: “The benefits system is complicated and anyone feeling the squeeze on their finances should check their entitlement to benefits.