THE 910,000 PENSIONERS MISSING OUT ON £4,300 A YEAR

This week I came across a depressing number on LinkedIn. 910,000 pensioner households in the UK are entitled to something called Pension Credit and are not claiming it.

Pension Credit is money the government has specifically set aside for people in later life who are on a lower income. It is sitting there, allocated, ready to go. And almost a million households are not getting it.

The average award is worth £4,300 a year. To put that in context, that is roughly £82 a week. For someone who is already cutting back on food or putting off turning the heating on, that kind of money does not just help. It changes things.

So why are people not claiming it?

The honest answer is that the system was not designed to be easy to find your way through. To get Pension Credit, you have to know it exists, understand that you might qualify, track down the form, and complete it. There is no nudge, no automatic enrolment, no letter that says “we think you might be eligible.” It is entirely up to you to take the first step.

And if you do get through that door, there is more behind it. Pension Credit can also unlock free NHS dental treatment, help with your council tax, and, in some cases, other support on top. But again, none of that happens automatically. You have to claim the first thing before any of the rest kicks in.

The people least likely to push through that process are exactly the people who most need what is on the other side.

So, who qualifies?

Pension Credit tops up your weekly income if you have reached State Pension age, which is currently 66. From April 2026, the threshold is £238 a week for a single person, or £363 a week for a couple. If your income falls below that, you are likely eligible.

Crucially, you do not have to be in extreme financial hardship to qualify. You can still be eligible if you own your home, have some savings, or receive a small pension from a previous employer. A lot of people rule themselves out before they have even checked, and they should not.

You can check your eligibility in a few minutes at gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility, or use the government’s own Pension Credit calculator. You can also apply up to four months before you reach State Pension age, and claims can be backdated by three months. So if you or someone you know has been putting it off, now is genuinely the right time to do something about it. The online form takes around 16 minutes to complete.

Why this matters
The financial system has always worked best for people who already understand how it works. People who can afford professional advice. People who grew up in households where money was talked about openly. Everyone else has largely had to piece it together on their own.

The result is that billions of pounds of support go unclaimed every year. Pension pots are slowly eroded by charges people do not know they are paying and investment returns that are dragged down by funds that have not been reviewed in a decade.

That is the reason Investing Insiders exists. Not to tell you what to do with your money, but to make sure you have the information to make that decision yourself. No jargon, no paywall, no assumption that you already know where to start.

If you know someone who might be entitled to Pension Credit, please share this with them. If you are not sure whether you qualify, take five minutes to check. You have spent most of your working life contributing to this country. This is yours.