Poorer pensioners wait months for benefit applications to be approved

DWP campaign to encourage pension credit results in flood of claims and backlog

Poorer pensioners are waiting months for their benefit applications to be approved after the Department for Work and Pensions was overwhelmed by rising demand stimulated by its own publicity drive.

In early April, the DWP launched a campaign to encourage pensioners to apply for pension credit - the benefit paid to people on low incomes who are over the state pension age - to handle rising living costs.