Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has extended a data analytics operation to ensure people on lower incomes receive pension credit to which they are entitled.
He said the campaign, which was launched in February 2023, will now be run for another year, and is expected to reach over 12,500 households with up to £10 million likely to be claimed.
It has been run with welfare and data analytics company Policy in Practice, using its Better Office policy analytics engine with datasets including those from local authorities on revenues and benefits. It identifies residents who are struggling, those missing out on benefits, and automatically tracks the impact of these campaign on take-up and other social outcomes.
Deven Ghelani, founder and director of Policy in Practice, said the process has been refined to be largely automated. More recent advances link the data to information on council tax debt and social care assessments.
People who are identified as eligible for but not receiving the benefit are sent letters encouraging them to make a claim.
The mayor’s office said that since autumn of last year the campaign led to 2,174 older Londoners on lower incomes claiming the pension credit to which they were entitled, averaging £4,394 per person.
Continued success
Ghelani said: “We are delighted to see this campaign's continued success, which has helped put an additional £9 million into the pockets of Londoners in the past year after already securing over £8 million in the previous year.”
Khan said: “Many older households in London are disproportionately affected by cost-of-living pressures so I am delighted that thanks to our campaign they have claimed over £17 million in pension credit.”
The importance of the campaign has been reinforced by this year’s cut in winter fuel payments for older people, which are now only available to those receiving pension credit.
