A report from the House of Commons work and pensions select committee on the means-tested pension credit scheme has criticised Governments targets for participation.
The committee have recommended that take up targets should be increased, as the 3.2 million pensioner household target, put forward by the Government, would leave over 1 million households without money that they were entitled to. It was recommended that an increase in the target for 2008, from 3.2 million to 3.85 million households would be a more challenging level, but would need substantial extra resources to implement.
Our view
It is beyond belief that a Government that promote social wellbeing should allow 1m to miss out because they are either ill-informed or totally unaware of their rights to benefits.
Learn more about the Pension Credit in the State Pensions Centre.