£1.91bn in Pension Credit is going unclaimed. Here's your constituency's share.
Pension Credit tops up the income of the poorest pensioners, and it is the gateway to a free TV licence, help with council tax and the Winter Fuel Payment. Across Great Britain, £1.91 billion of it goes unclaimed every year — money already budgeted for, sitting with the government because nobody claimed it. The Department for Work and Pensions publishes the shortfall constituency by constituency. Almost nobody reads it. Here it is.
The bit that surprises people
You would expect the money to be missed in the poorest places. It is the other way round. The seats with the worst take-up are wealthy and rural. The best are inner-city and deprived. In Eddisbury in rural Cheshire, only 40p of every pound of Pension Credit that could be claimed actually is. In Bethnal Green and Bow in east London, it is 89p.
Worst take-up
| Constituency | Take-up | Unclaimed |
|---|---|---|
| Eddisbury | 40% | £7.78m |
| Mid Worcestershire | 47% | £7.25m |
| The Cotswolds | 52% | £5.00m |
| Westmorland and Lonsdale | 52% | £3.98m |
| West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine | 52% | £2.36m |
Best take-up
| Constituency | Take-up | Unclaimed |
|---|---|---|
| Bethnal Green and Bow | 89% | £2.65m |
| Poplar and Limehouse | 89% | £2.62m |
| Leicester East | 88% | £4.15m |
| Hackney South and Shoreditch | 88% | £3.01m |
| Birmingham, Ladywood | 88% | £2.87m |
The likely reason is not complicated. Cities are thick with welfare rights advisers, council outreach teams and food banks that ask the question. A pensioner in a village with a nice house and £70 a week coming in often assumes Pension Credit is not meant for someone like them — and nobody is there to tell them otherwise. Pension Credit is assessed on income, not on the house you live in.
Every constituency
All 632 constituencies in England, Scotland and Wales, ranked by the amount left unclaimed. Search it, or sort by any column.
| # | Constituency | Unclaimed | Claimed | Take-up |
|---|
⬇ Download the full data (CSV) — free to use, please credit DWP as the source.
If this is you, or your parent
Pension Credit tops your weekly income up to £238 if you are single, or £363.25 for a couple. It also unlocks more than it pays: a free TV licence at 75 or over, Council Tax Reduction, help with NHS dental and optical costs, and cold weather payments. You can claim once you are over State Pension age — and £10,000 or less in savings does not affect it at all.
Plenty of people are refused once and never try again, or never apply because they assume owning their home rules them out. It does not. Our full guide walks through the income limits and the claim itself: how to claim Pension Credit.
Common questions
Does owning my home stop me getting Pension Credit?
Why is Pension Credit take-up worse in richer areas?
How much Pension Credit goes unclaimed?
Department for Work and Pensions, Households potentially eligible for Pension Credit, 2023 to 2024 (DWP ad hoc statistical analyses: 2025), worksheets 4a and 4b. Figures are DWP estimates for the 2023/24 financial year and cover Great Britain only. We requested this breakdown under the Freedom of Information Act (ref FOI2026/76543); DWP replied that it was already published and pointed us to the dataset above, so the figures here are DWP's published statistics, not an exclusive.
Pension Credit rules and rates (£238 single / £363.25 couple, the £10,000 savings disregard, three-month backdating) are from gov.uk, checked 28 August 2026.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
This page is general information, not financial advice. Whether you qualify depends on your own income and circumstances — check on gov.uk or with an adviser before making decisions.