Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure timely responses to Pension Credit applications.

The Department has secured funding for additional staffing to assist with the processing of the additional Pension Credit claims being made. The Department is significantly increasing the resource on Pension Credit to ensure it processes claims as quickly as possible, with approximately 500 additional staff to support the increase in applications generated from the successful Pension Credit take-up campaign.