Minister for Pensions Visits The Black Prince Trust as Local Pensioners Secure Access to Financial Support Through Pension Credit
On Monday 12th June Black Prince Trust partnered with Department for Work and Pensions to raise awareness around eligibility for Pension Credit as part of the DWP Week of Action. As part of this campaign we hosted a visit from Minister for Pensions Laura Trott MP, who heard all about our community work and engaged with members of our Over 55s programme who attended the event.
Currently nearly 1.4 million pensioners in Britain receive Pension Credit. However, many eligible pensioners aren’t claiming this extra financial help. The average Pension Credit award is worth over £3,500 per year and even a small Pension Credit award can open doors to other benefits.
BPT, in partnership with Lambeth Public Health and their Lambeth Wellbeing Bus, helped the DWP to launch their Week of Action, inviting site users and anyone else in our local community to come for a cup of tea and a biscuit while our staff and volunteers helped pensioners to check their eligibility.
We were delighted help so many senior citizens from our community on the day – 16 people qualified for Pension Credit by the end of the day, ranging from an extra £15.99 per week to the full £203 per week, with all then qualifying for further awards including help with housing costs, council tax, heating bills, free TV License, and £600 in cost of living payments to come later this year.
Furthermore 5 visitors already receiving Pension Credit were not accessing any of these gateway awards and have now been shown how to access further cost savings.
All at BPT were delighted to share with the Minister the excellent engagement we have with senior citizens at BPT and to support them in accessing vital financial support that they are eligible for, as well as talking about our wider community engagement and sport for development programmes for local people of all ages.
We fully expect that more will benefit in the coming days and weeks as we continue to push the eligibility checks and those who benefitted share their good news at our regular post-activity socials.
Minister for Pensions Laura Trott MBE said:
“It’s been an incredible morning. They already do such wonderful work and we have already had 14 people successfully apply for Pension Credit, just this morning.at the session.
It is a real testament to groups such as these who do such great work in their communities and I’m doing all I can to work with them to get those pensioners who most need that help, the Pension Credit that they are entitled to.”
Black Prince Trust CEO Richard Joyce said:
“To see people from our local community leave our site today with the newfound comfort of knowing they will be making savings of thousands of pounds per year in such challenging times thanks to the join efforts of BPT, DWP and Lambeth Public Health is hugely gratifying.
It’s a tangible impact that we know will make a difference to their day-to-say lives, and adds to the weight of our many other programmes designed to improve the health and wellbeing of our local community.”
BPT urges all pensioners in our local community not claiming Pension Credit to check their eligibility, and to remember that there are many other associated benefits should anyone qualify including help with housing and heating costs; council tax discounts, free TV License, and £600 in cost of living payments. It is easy to check online, or you can pop into the Black Prince Trust Community Hub and ask to speak to a member of BPT Staff for further support.