Pension Credit: South Cotswolds
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has provided support to (a) Wiltshire and (b) Gloucestershire County Council to enable them to encourage pensioners in South Cotswolds constituency to check their eligibility for Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds
All local authorities in England have received bulletins from both DWP and MHCLG. The bulletins contained information about Pension Credit along with links to DWP’s online stakeholder toolkit which contains a range of materials to help promote Pension Credit to pensioners and their friends and family. The bulletins also invited local authorities to request printed promotional materials to support their local activity.
The Department also shares extensive data with all local authorities for a variety of purposes. Local authorities are allowed to re-use that data under the terms of a data sharing Memorandum of Understanding, subject to them seeking their own legal advice and subject to them notifying the Department of their intent. Through this process, local authorities can re-use the data originating from DWP to help identify people eligible for Pension Credit.
Since 16 September, the Department has also been running national paid marketing activity, including radio (Greatest Hits Radio and Smooth Radio air in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire); national and regional press (including the Swindon Evening Advertiser); paid social media; and GP and Post Office Screens (including six medical centres and nine Post Offices in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire).
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