Rochdale MP pledges to fight for easier Pension Credit claims for elderly

Paul Waugh MP

Rochdale MP Paul Waugh has promised to take a pensioner’s petition to government ministers to make it easier for older people to claim Pension Credit.

At a meeting on Friday 20 September in Rochdale, Healey resident Jim Moran explained to Mr Waugh that in order to apply for Pension Credit, people must first complete a 22 page form answering 243 questions.

Mr Moran asked the Rochdale MP what could be done to ease this barrier for elderly and vulnerable people accessing the support they are entitled to.

Mr Waugh explained he himself had had to wade through pages of form-filling to help his own mother to get the extra help - and he pledged to raise the issue directly with Ministers in the Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions.

Pension Credit boosts a pensioner’s income by an average of £3,900 per year but an estimated 880,000 people are missing out on the extra payment to which they are entitled.

Ministers are directly targeting pensioners on housing benefit to encourage them to claim Pension Credit and Rochdale Council is offering a service where people can go into any library or council office to get one-to-one help in filling out the form.

Mr Waugh said: “It seems ludicrous that some of our poorest pensioners are being asked to complete hundreds of seemingly obstructive questions to access funding they have worked for all their lives.

“If my own mum didn’t have myself and our family to help her clear these bureaucratic hurdles, there’s no way she could have done this herself. 

"The last government didn’t make any extra effort to help pensioners to claim what they are owed. I am urging ministers in our new government to simplify this form to help Rochdale residents and all pensioners in the country.”