Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the uptake of Pension Credit in (a) Wallasey constituency, (b) Wirral, (c) the North West and (d) United Kingdom.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up, the Department launched a nationwide marketing and communications campaign in April 2022.
Nationally, the campaign has included advertising on TV, broadcast radio and in newspapers; in medical centre and Post Office screens; as well as advertising on buses and digital street displays. Online marketing activity has also included social media, internet search engines and sponsored advertising on targeted websites that pensioners, their friends and family are likely to visit.
We have also been promoting Pension Credit at a local level in regional newspapers (including Liverpool Echo, Blackpool Gazette, Bolton News, Lancashire Evening Post, Manchester Evening News); and on local radio (stations such as Capital radio in Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester and Greatest Hits Radio in Blackpool and Bolton).
There is a strong indication that the campaign has had a positive impact and has resulted in an unprecedented number of Pension Credit applications.
The Department is building on this success through a range of creative no-cost media campaigns to boost awareness of the benefit. We are also engaging with stakeholders, including other Government Departments, Councils, and charities, in order to harness their help and support to raise awareness through their networks and channels. For example, we will be holding a Pension Credit Week of Action commencing on 10 June. As in previous years, this will be an opportunity to collaborate with all our partners to maximise awareness of Pension Credit and to encourage eligible pensioners to make a claim.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of freezing of income tax thresholds on pensioners.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve. The Personal Allowance has nearly doubled since 2010 and is currently set at a level high enough to ensure that those pensioners whose sole income is the full rate of the new State Pension or basic State Pension do not pay any income tax.