Up to 850,000 pensioners have just three weeks to put in a claim for pension credit in order to avoid missing out on the one-off £650 cost of living payment. Friends and families are being urged to help pensioners check their eligibility for benefit, and they have until August 18 to start the ball rolling.
MPs are pressuring the Government to improve their strategy for boosting pension credit uptake by the end of the year, amid fears that hundreds of thousands of the poorest pensioner are missing out on the benefit each year. Pension credit works by topping up weekly incomes to a minimum of £182.60 for single people and £278.70 for couples, and this year, it also means that claimants are eligible for the £650 cost of living payment.
While the first half of the cost of living payment is currently being paid out, it is not too late to apply and receive the money, which is part of the cost of living package announced by the former Chancellor Rishi Sunak earlier this year. The second half of the payment, £324, is due to be paid in autumn - although no set date has been announced, reports The Mirror.
