A record 117,800 pension credit claims were processed following Labour’s decision to link the benefit to the winter fuel payment, new figures from the DWP show, up 64 per cent from the same time last year.
Secretary of state for work and pensions Liz Kendall said: “The record high number of claims awarded follows months of work to drive awareness of Pension Credit and then to process the huge spike in applications we received, and now thousands more pensioners are accessing the range of support on offer.”.
Last week, the charity presented a petition with 650,000 signatures to the government to ‘Save the Winter Fuel Payment.’ New research from them finds that 3 in 4 pensioners – 9.1 million people – said their homes were colder than they would like them to be at least some of the time.
Tens of thousands of pensioners have been waiting for two months for a decision on their winter fuel payment application, new figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show.
Responding to the data, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions spokesperson Steve Darling MP said: “Ministers' promises of boosting pension credit applications are utterly meaningless if they can’t process those claims in time, leaving many shivering in their homes.
