The valuable role for communities and local authorities in raising Pension Credit take-up
A recent change in the eligibility rules for the Winter Fuel Payment has raised the importance of older people signing up for Pension Credit if they meet the criteria.
Pension Credit has a notoriously low rate of take-up, but local authorities and their communities can play a valuable role in helping to raise these levels, says Rebecca Lines of the Centre for Ageing Better.
Designed to help with the daily living costs for older people over state pension age on a low income. More than 800,000 older people living on very low incomes are not claiming Pension Credit they’re entitled to receive.
But the Chancellor’s recent announcement means that people over 66 who do not receive Pension Credit or a small number of other means-tested benefits, will no longer receive automatic annual payments of between £100 and £300 to help with energy costs through the winter. This makes the case for encouraging greater take-up among those eligible even stronger.
Designed as a type of financial support that ‘tops-up’ the income of people living in England, Scotland and Wales who are over State Pension age and fall below a specific income threshold, Pension Credit can make a notable difference to people’s lives. A successful application can provide significant help with day-to-day expenses such as council tax and housing and heating costs.
Pension Credit is also worth more because when in receipt of it, you can access a range of other income related benefits such as a free TV licence, council tax deductions, and now the Winter Fuel Payment.
When benefits are neither universal or automated, those who need it most often miss out. According to research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, there are many reasons people don’t claim benefit that they’re entitled to. These include not being aware of entitlement, the stigma attached to claiming benefits, complex application processes, a lack of support to navigate them, and bad experiences of assessment processes and benefit administration putting people off.
The Department for Work and Pensions has attempted a number of campaigns to increase Pension Credit take-up, but the impact has been limited. But local authorities and community groups, being an integral part of their areas, are well-placed to help raise awareness of low Pension Credit take up.
They have the power to help because they have knowledge of, and access to local networks and influencers Through our work facilitating the UK Network of Age-friendly Communities, part of the World Health Organisation’s Global Network, we have seen a number of approaches to successfully increasing Pension Credit uptake, at a local level.
Here are six top tips on how local communities can create their own Pension Credit take-up campaigns:
Engage with partners to understand local challenges and opportunities
Start by having conversations with partners who may be impacted by an increased interest in Pension Credit in your area resulting from the campaign.
These may include housing providers, charities such as Independent Age, Age UK, Citizens Advice as well as local authority teams.
Work together to understand how you can support one another, share intelligence, and manage challenges together.
Get buy-in by quantifying the potential economic gain
Demonstrating the potential economic gain of increased Pension Credit take-up can be a powerful way to secure buy-in and resource for an awareness campaign.
In Greater Manchester, for example, campaign organisers calculated there were around 36,000 eligible households not claiming Pension Credit missing out on an average weekly income of £34 per week which equates to £70m per year across the city region.
Understand who you are targeting
Use demographic data and local knowledge about your communities to identify how a Pension Credit campaign can be tailored for the greatest impact.
A good understanding of the areas of low take-up will help to inform decisions about venues for engagement, any possible need for translations, and which community leaders might need to be engaged.
Co-create your key messages
Language around Pension Credit can create a barrier so work with older people to ensure you communicate in a way that works for them.
Any campaign messaging should focus on the advantages from claiming. Avoid referring to Pension Credit in terms of ‘benefits’ and instead opt for language such as ‘entitlements’ or ‘extra money’.
Bust myths which might be influencing people not to claim and amplify voices of older people talking about the advantages of claiming what people are entitled to.
Share materials with your networks
Share your materials through partner organisations and older people’s groups.
Make sure information is shared though the channels that your target audience uses. So, ensure that resources are in both digital and non-digital formats and are made up of clear and accessible messaging, with easy-to-read font, high contrast text, and subtitles for videos.
Share the load
One of the challenges to Pension Credit take-up is the labour-intensive approach required to support claimants through the process.
Successful local campaigns have been able to equip individuals, family, friends, or trusted professionals to support the application all the way through.
Older people are most likely to respond to one-to-one conversations with someone they trust.
Local authorities are successfully leading pension credit campaigns in Age-friendly Communities, supported by UK Network of Age-friendly Communities. You can read our case study for more information on how local authorities are doing this.
