Pensions Minister Torsten Bell has launched a campaign sending Pension Credit advice to 660,000 households in areas with high proportions of low-income pensioners.
The leaflets will be distributed in Glasgow, Powys, Stockton-on-Tees, inland Cornwall, Birmingham, East Suffolk and Manchester. They will explain eligibility, how to apply and how relatives can help with a claim.
Pension Credit is worth more than £4,500 a year on average. It can also provide access to other help with household costs, making take-up significant beyond the weekly income payment itself.
Around 1.4 million pensioner households currently receive the benefit. The Department for Work and Pensions said its previous awareness campaign was followed by an additional 33,500 applications.
The new drive will run across television, radio, print and social media as well as the leaflet distribution. It will also address misconceptions that home ownership or savings necessarily prevent a claim.
Bell said eligible pensioners should check rather than assume they do not qualify. The campaign is an outreach measure and does not change the benefit's entitlement rules.
