Updated July 2012
Know your audience
- Who do we want you to talk to?
- Targeting your resources
- Barriers to claiming Pension Credit
- Who do pensioners trust?
- Life event triggers
Around 1.6m people may be entitled to Pension Credit, but don’t claim it. Some people think because they’ve got savings or own their home they wouldn’t get any Pension Credit. Reaching these people is not always easy, but they may be more open to listening to people they trust like community workers or friends and family.
Many customers claim when a life event makes them stop and think about their finances. These can be things like:
- changes in health
- bereavement
- birth of grandchildren
- divorce
- marriage.
Older people span different generations and have a very wide variety of attitudes, behaviours and communication needs.
Who do we want you to talk to?
We know that around 1.8 million pensioners live in poverty. Many of them live alone, and many of them are women.
We’d like you to talk to people who:
- are of State Pension age
- are not currently getting benefit
- may have savings.
Targeting your resources
Depending on how much time you have, you may want to consider targeting vulnerable people who may be in most need. Below we provide some audience characteristics. Please note – this is not a definitive guide.
If someone falls into either category, it may be worth talking to them about Pension Credit:
Characteristics of mobile older people
Age: likely to be 80+
Income: low (up to £120 per week) – subsisting on other benefits
Savings: often no savings, or very little (up to £10,000)
Health: good general health
Gender: more likely to be a woman living alone
Attitudes expressed include:
"I’m managing"
"I try to live within my means"
"I don’t need extra handouts"
"My circumstances changed so I’ve cut back"
"I’m worried about the future, especially if I become ill"
Characteristics of the less mobile older people
Age: likely to be 80+
Income: up to £193 per week (but this includes health allowances)
Savings: often no savings, or very little (up to £10,000)
Health: may have long-term health condition or disability
Gender: more likely to be a woman living alone
Attitudes expressed include:
"There’s little I can do to change my life now"
"I get health benefits because of my condition"
"I don’t want to change my arrangements and complicate things"
"I already get help"
"I’ve got a routine but I worry about the future and what will happen to me"
"It’s getting harder to make ends meet"
Barriers to claiming Pension Credit
There are a number of barriers that stop pensioners claiming Pension Credit including that they:
- wrongly think they aren’t eligible because they:
- have savings
- own their own home
- may be working
- may be getting a small occupational pension
- may have been turned down in the past.
- don’t want to be seen as needing to claim
- feel that they are able to manage
- don’t think it’s worth applying (as the amount they get will be very small)
- don’t recognise themselves as a Pension Credit customer
- haven’t got round to it
- think it is a complex and confusing subject
- already get other help and don’t want to mess up the benefits they are getting.
We also know many pensioners are worried about how much information they need to give us and how complicated the application process is. So it’s worth reassuring them that the claim can be done in one phone call – there are no forms to fill out. The Pension Service will also help them to claim other benefits (like Council Tax Benefit and help with housing costs) if they’re entitled to those as well.
Who do pensioners trust?
Our audience is more likely to trust people they know in the community. This might include:
- health visitors
- home help
- day-care centre staff
- welfare advisers
- their GP and staff at the surgery
- the local pharmacist who prepares their prescriptions
- people at the Post Office ® where they collect their pension
- local authorities
- friends and family.
Life event triggers
Many pensioners claim Pension Credit when there is a change in their lives. So talking to them when these changes happen is a good idea. We have produced some guides to help you:
- Tips on talking to pensioners about Pension Credit (13KB)
(updated June 2012) - Life events (24KB) (updated June 2012)
- Life event examples (including examples of health, savings and bereavement) (21KB) (updated June 2012)