MPs Welcome Pension Credit Gains for Aberdeenshire Pensioners

6.39.32pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 12th Jan 2004

Aberdeenshire Liberal Democrat MPs Malcolm Bruce and Sir Robert Smith have welcomed figures showing an average gain of £7.42 a week for Aberdeenshire pensioners receiving the new Pension Credit.

Mr Bruce said:

"I am delighted to see Aberdeenshire pensioners gaining significantly by the introduction of the new Pension Credit.

"The latest figures show that Aberdeenshire pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit have gained on average £7.42 a week. The biggest gainers are couples aged 65 and over: they have gained on average £11.85 a week."

"The average Aberdeenshire couple aged 60-64, in receipt of Pension Credit, gets over £74 a week. Nobody should be afraid of finding out if they are entitled to this support - it is an entitlement that people have worked and paid in for all their working lives."

Sir Robert Smith commented:

"We have been very keen to maximise the take-up of the Pension Credit in the North East. While nearly 900 more pensioners in Aberdeenshire are now receiving money they were not receiving before October, around a quarter of pensioners who are entitled to the credits are not claiming. These are our poorest pensioners. An increase in the basic state pension would have been guaranteed to reach them.

"However, under the current system people must apply to receive the cash that is rightfully theirs. The process of claiming is much easier that it would have been a few years back. Anyone can call the Pensions Service's Pension Credit helpline and find out about how to claim and we would encourage people to do so."