They have urged the Government to overhaul the benefit – worth up to £4,000 a year for the poorest pensioners – to open it up to more people.
Tapering it would allow those on the cusp of eligibility to still claim smaller amounts of pension credit.
The benefit also allows claimants access to other benefits including housing benefit, council tax support and the warm homes discount.
Ministers have since backtracked and said they would be awarding winter fuel payments to more pensioners.
It is estimated nine million pensioners will receive the winter fuel payment.
The idea was proposed by the Resolution Foundation when Torsten Bell ran it (Photo: Malcolm Cochrane Photography)“Pensioners just above the threshold told us in strong terms that this was unfair, and organisations working with older people outlined severe hardship in this group,” the report said.
Work and Pensions Committee chairwoman Debbie Abrahams – who was one of the leading figures in pressuring the Government to back down over its disability welfare cuts – described it as a “scandal that so many have missed out for so many years” by not claiming pension credit.
The cross-party group of politicians also urged the Government to introduce a new strategy to boost take up of pension credit by the end of 2025.
The report, published on Thursday said the Government must decide on – and ensure – a minimum level of retirement income with a plan for everyone to reach that level.
On Tuesday, Rachel Reeves said that a review into raising the state pension age is needed to ensure the system is “sustainable and affordable”.
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The Women’s Budget Group argued a staggered approach to pension credit was necessary to tackle the inequality seen in the levels of pensioner poverty faced by women, in particular.
“That means looking at low paid workers’ employers contributing to private pensions before they do; it means staggering the thresholds for access to pension credits including for unpaid carers; and it means changing the pension tax reliefs that benefit high earners twice over.”
She said the charity backed the need for a cross-government strategy with a specific commissioner appointed to look at the lives of older people, as well as a social tariff for energy and a strategy to promote benefit uptake.
A Government spokesperson said supporting pensioners was “a top priority” and said it had run “the biggest-ever campaign to boost pension credit take-up, with nearly 60,000 extra pensioner households being awarded the benefit”.
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