Did you know that up to 1 million families entitled to Pension Credit have not claimed it? And estimates indicate that only around 6 out of 10 of those entitled to Pension Credit are taking up this benefit.

Pension Credit is great news as it tops up the income of people who have reached the qualifying age to £177.10 per week for single people and £270.30 for couples.

For those aged 65 or over they may be entitled to extra money if they have made some provision towards their retirement such as savings or a private pension. This is called Savings Credit and could mean up to an extra £14.04 a week (for single people) or £15.71 a week (for couples).

If an individual or their partner is severely disabled, a carer, or have housing costs such as mortgage interest payments they may still be able to receive Pension Credit.

To help further, it may be possible to get up to three months backdated payment from the day a person was first entitled up to the date they apply. Some people have had as much as £1,000 with their backdated payment.

To make applying easy The Pension Service has a dedicated freephone application line. Call 0800 99 1234 (textphone 0800 169 0133) and an adviser will support with form filling. A face-to-face service is also offered through The Pension Service’s Local Service team for more vulnerable people who require further assistance in applying. An adviser will arrange this if relevant. Or if preferred, someone else can call on an individual’s behalf.

For more information follow this link: http://www.gov.uk/pension-credit