State pensioners urged to check if they can claim Pension Credit

State pensioners are encouraged to check if they are eligible for Pension Credit which can boost a person’s income up to £3,500 a year. The benefit is thought to be one of the most underclaimed Government benefits with tens of thousands of older Britons missing out on the extra funds.

Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert, recently encouraged Britons to check if they are eligible for the benefit on his BBC podcast.

He said: “If you are a state pensioner earning under £220 a week as a single state pensioner, or a couple of state pensioners earning in total under £320 a week, you should absolutely check this out.

“Either go online and do it, or ring the Pension Credit hotline.

“Don’t worry if you think you might not be eligible. They might tell you that you aren’t.”

Both Pension Credit and the state pension recently increased 10.1 percent. The full new state pension is now £203.85 a week while the full basic state pension pays £185.15 a week.

A person typically needs 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full new state pension and 30 years of contributions to get the full basic state pension.

A person can find out how much state pension they are on track to receive using the state pension forecast tool on the Government website.

The tool will also tell them if they can boost their payments by paying voluntary National Insurance contributions.

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