State Pension and Pension Credit

Please note that anyone with a query regarding a claim for State Pension or Pension Credit should go directly to the Gov.uk website

Key points for the Lancashire-12 area in May 2024

• The total State Pension caseload was 251,860
• The average amount of State Pension awarded was £212.20
• There were 26,900 claimants of Pension Credit
• If partners are also included, the total numbers of beneficiaries of Pension Credit was 30,290
• The total number of Pension Credit beneficiaries as a percentage of the State Pension total caseload was 12.0%, below the Great Britain figure of 12.9%
• State Pension (£2.26bn) and Pension Credit (£87.1m) accounted for 53% of the total benefits expenditure in the Lancashire-12 area (£4.43bn) during the 2022/23 financial year

Introduction

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publishes quarterly data on the number of claimants of the various types of state benefits. Included in this material is information on the number of State Pension and Pension Credit claimants. The figures used in this article have been obtained from the DWP's Stat-Xplore site.

From December 2018, the State Pension age for both men and women increased to reach 66 by April 2020, then will again to reach 67 by April 2028, following an eight year period (2010-2018) in which the female State Pension age rose to match the State Pension age for men. The earlier take-up by women of State Pension, combined with their greater life expectancy, ensures that there are always more women claimants that men.

People who reached State Pension age before 6^th April 2016 can receive the basic State Pension and Additional State Pension.

People who reached State Pension age on or after 6^th April 2016 can receive the new State Pension

The amount paid for new State Pension is around 30.5% higher than the basic State Pension. Both types of pension increase each year by a rate determined by whichever is the highest:

• earnings - the average percentage growth in wages (in Great Britain)
• prices - the percentage growth in prices in the UK as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI)
• 2.5%

The maximum amount currently awarded for basic State Pension is £169.50. All of the average weekly benefits shown in Figure 2 and Table 1 are higher than this, so the figures shown include varying amounts of Additional State Pension or New State Pension. There is a detailed explanation of New State Pension, aimed mostly at those who do receive, or soon will be receiving, the benefit. Currently the full amount for New State Pension is £221.20.

The split between the recipients of the basic + Additional State Pension and new State Pension has changed noticeably since the introduction of the latter. Currently (in May 2024) 66.9% of the State Pension caseload in the Lancashire-12 area was of the old State Pension type, compared to 92.9% in May 2018.

Please see the government's pensions and an ageing society web page for more information about pensions.

State Pension caseload in Lancashire

Figure 1 and table 1 are presented as summaries of the main district-level figures. These reveal that in May 2024, the State Pension caseload in Great Britain and abroad amounted to around 12.9 million. In the Lancashire-12 area the total caseload was 251,860 while the total figure for the Lancashire-14 area was 301,070. At the local authority level, Wyre recorded the highest caseload in the Lancashire-14 area of 30,980, even though it only has the seventh highest total population in the Lancashire-14 area. With a caseload of 12,960, Rossendale had the lowest.

The average amount of State Pension awarded in Great Britain and to pensioners living abroad was £201.65 but in the Lancashire-12 area it was £212.20. In the Lancashire-14 area, where the average was £211.36, Rossendale recorded the highest weekly average £217.44, noticeably well in excess of the lowest figure of £205.20 in Blackpool. Refer to figure 2 and table 1.

The following Microsoft Power BI slide includes Table 1, plus Figures 1 to 4. To enlarge the slide to full-screen click on the double-headed arrow on the right hand side of the slide's grey footer panel, and to return to normal display use the escape 'Esc' key. In the table the columns can be sorted by clicking the column header. Figure 4 shows the State Pension caseload for every quarter from May 2018. 

Source Department for Work and Pensions, Information and Analysis Directorate, Information Centre DWP Stat-Xplore website.

The pension caseload is the number of clients on the administrative system at the reference date. Figures are adjusted in the Stat-Xplore tool and we have also rounded the caseload values to the nearest ten. Adding district caseloads figures may result in different values to the county totals and totals quoted elsewhere in this article. The Lancashire-12, Lancashire-14 and 'Great Britain and abroad' totals given in the text on this page are more accurate than the figures shown in the Power BI report for this reason.

Pension Credit claimants in Lancashire

Pension Credit is for pensioners in Great Britain at the lower end of the income scale. The benefit consists of Guarantee Credit, Savings Credit, or both. For Guarantee Credit the intention is that no-one who has reached the qualifying age need live on an income of less than guaranteed amounts for single people and couples. For single people this matches the new State Pension award. People receiving the new State Pension may not be eligible for Savings Credit.

The age from which people can get Pension Credit is the same as State Pension age.

At the GB level, the claimant number for Pension Credit was just around 1.4 million in May 2024. In the Lancashire-12 area, the figure was 26,900, whilst for the Lancashire-14 area the number was 35,780. At the local level, the largest numbers of claimants were in the two unitary authorities of Blackburn with Darwen (3,720) and Blackpool (5,160). Within the Lancashire-12 area Preston had 3,150 and Lancaster had 3,050 claimants while Ribble Valley recorded by far the lowest number of claimants with just 800.

Pension Credit numbers have generally been on the decline since 2009, and one reason is the increase in the State Pension age for women.

Pension Credit is claimed on a household basis. In the case of a couple, either may claim if both are of qualifying age, but only one partner can get Pension Credit at any one time.

If partners are also included, the total numbers of beneficiaries of Pension Credit in May 2024 was 30,290 for the Lancashire-12 area, and 40,450 for the Lancashire-14 area. Within the Lancashire-14 area, Blackpool (5,740), Blackburn with Darwen (4,420), Preston (3,610), Wyre (3,420) and Lancaster (3,360) had the greatest number of beneficiaries of Pension Credit while Ribble Valley (880) had the lowest.

Average weekly amounts (£s) of Pension Credit

The average weekly amount of Pension Credit varies between a low of £67.67 in Ribble Valley up to a high of £87.15 in Blackburn with Darwen. The average weekly amounts for the Lancashire-12 and Lancashire-14 areas were £72.84 and £74.27 respectively. The amount is largely determined by how far the claimant's total income, which may include an occupational pension and State Pension, falls short of the guaranteed amount. The State Pension element of income may have been reduced due to the number of years in which National Insurance contributions were not made, or if part of the NI contributions were contracted out. Reasons for missing some years of contributions may include maternity and raising a family, studying, working abroad or self-employment weekly amount. Areas with higher weekly amounts per claim indicate that more claimants are receiving the award for couples, intended to bring the claimants joint income up to match the guaranteed income for couples, which is currently £114.80 higher than the single claimant's award. The numbers of claimants of Pension Credit, whether they have a partner and average weekly amounts are provided in an excel table in the further information panel. This is for all quarters since May 2018.

Pension Credit beneficiaries as a percentage of State Pension total caseloads

In the Lancashire-12 area, the total number of Pension Credit beneficiaries as a percentage of the State Pension total caseload was 12.0%, below the Great Britain figure of 12.9%. The percentage in the Lancashire-14 area was pushed up to 13.4%, above the Great Britain rate, by the unitary authorities Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool, both of which having rates above 20%. Only 5.8% of the Ribble Valley State Pension caseload were also benefiting from Pension Credit, while in South Ribble the rate was also low at 8.4%. The highest rate in the Lancashire-12 area was in Preston at 17%.

The overall cost of State Pension and Pension Credit in the Lancashire County Council area

The government publishes yearly benefit expenditure caseload tables that detail the amounts spent on various benefits. Numbers are available for each of the 14 Lancashire local authorities, and for the Lancashire-12 area. The figures reveal how State Pension and Pension Credit form a large proportion of overall benefit expenditure. State Pension (£2.26bn) and Pension Credit (£87.1m) accounted for 53% of the total benefits expenditure in the Lancashire-12 area (£4.43bn) during the 2022/23 financial year. The percentage is down from 64% two years earlier. We cannot give expenditure totals and a proportion for the latest 2023/24 financial year because the State Pension figures are awaiting update for all areas in that table apart from Great Britain. The Great Britain proportion was 50.8% in 2023/24 compared to 51.6% in 2022/23.

 Page updated January 2025