HC Deb 26 April 2004 vol 420 c634
15. Mr. Eric Illsley (Barnsley, Central) (Lab)

If he will make a statement on the take-up of pension credit.[167691]

The Minister for Pensions (Malcolm Wicks)

As we reported earlier, the take-up of pension credit is going well, with 2.9 million individuals now receiving it. This includes some 4,460 pensioner households in my hon. Friend's constituency.

Mr. Illsley

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that response. I very much welcome the pension credit and the take-up in my constituency. However, both he and I know that that take-up could be improved. Two of the issues that have been raised with me in meetings with pensioner organisations in my constituency are the reluctance to undergo means-testing and the idea that many pensioners who have not saved for their retirement are being rewarded as well as those who have. Does my hon. Friend have any proposals to try to overcome this resentment of means-testing?

Malcolm Wicks

That means that we need to redouble our efforts at communicating, and to point out the savings element involved. We know from our customer satisfaction surveys that the ability to apply over the telephone, for example, is going down very well with customers. This comes back to what I said earlier. Sadly, there are some in the House who say that the pension credit is too complex and confusing—the message being: "Don't claim it"—and those of us who want to tackle pensioner poverty, as we are doing, have to go out there and be positive in every constituency, including Northavon, and to tell people that this is a decent benefit for people who deserve the money.