Less than two-thirds (63 per cent) of families entitled to Pension Credit claimed it in the 2021/22 financial year, data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has shown.

This is equivalent to 880,000 families not claiming the benefit and is down from 66 per cent of eligible families claiming Pension Credit in the 2019/20 financial year.

In 2021/22, an estimated 73 per cent of the total amount of Pension Credit that could have been claimed was claimed, down by 4 percentage points from 2019/20.

Up to £2.1bn of available Pension Credit went unclaimed in 2021/22, amounting to an average of around £2,200 a year for each entitled family.

The data also revealed that pensioners were not claiming £1.3bn of housing benefit that they were entitled to.

“We saw a shock dip in Pension Credit take-up, with only 63 per cent of families who are entitled to it actually claiming it,” commented Hargreaves Lansdown head of retirement analysis, Helen Morrissey.

“This is down from 66 per cent back in 2020. However, the data notes that the pandemic did affect how information was gathered and this may well have affected the results.

“The fact remains though that hundreds of thousands of people who are struggling in retirement are not getting the help they need.

“The government has focused on increasing take up of Pension Credit in recent years. One campaign was affected by the pandemic, but we have since seen a Pension Credit Day of Action in June 2022 which was aimed at boosting awareness of this vital benefit and the extra support it brings.

“It is hoped that the next set of data shows the fruits of this work with a surge in take up that means more pensioners are getting what they are entitled to.”

AJ Bell head of personal finance, Laura Suter, added: “The cost-of-living crisis has hurt many household’s budgets, but particularly pensioners, who tend to spend more of their money on heating and eating – which have seen some of the biggest surges in price.

“We know that more people are claiming Pension Credit, with an FOI by AJ Bell showing that the number of claims made in the 2022/23 tax year were more than double the previous year.”

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