Official Statistics

Pension Credit applications and awards: February 2026

Published 26 February 2026

Published 26 February 2026

Introduction

This statistical release provides data on the number of weekly Pension Credit claims received, claims cleared, claims awarded or not awarded, and outstanding Pension Credit claims, between 3 April 2023 and 22 February 2026, in Great Britain only.

Main story

Comparing the most recent 52-weeks of data for Great Britain (24 February 2025 to 22 February 2026), with the comparable period a year previous (26 February 2024 to 23 February 2025), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has:

• received 209,735 Pension Credit applications – a 36% decrease or 117,595 fewer applications on the comparable period a year previous

• cleared 242,440 Pension Credit claims – a 25% decrease or 79,665 fewer clearances on the comparable period a year previous

• cleared and awarded 147,150 Pension Credit claims – a 13% decrease or 22,485 fewer claims awarded on the comparable period a year previous

• cleared and did not award 95,290 Pension Credit claims – a 38% decrease or 57,175 fewer claims not awarded on the comparable period a year previous

There were 11,710 outstanding Pension Credit claims still to be processed at the end of week commencing 16 February 2026 in Great Britain.

Key definitions

Pension Credit claim applications

An application for Pension Credit made by, or on behalf of, either a single person or a person with a partner in a household.

Pension Credit claims cleared

Pension Credit claims where an outcome decision has been notified to the applicant, recorded in the week it was cleared.

Pension Credit claims cleared – awarded

Where the outcome decision resulted in an award.

Pension Credit claims cleared – not awarded

Where the outcome decision resulted in no award.

Outstanding Pension Credit claim

Pension Credit claims where an outcome decision is still to be determined.

• Advanced Pension Credit claims applications have been excluded from outstanding Pension Credit claims figures, as these cannot be processed until the claimant (and their partner if they have one) reaches State Pension age. Advanced claim applications can be started up to 4 months before reaching State Pension age.

Policy context

For Winter 2024 to 2025, in view of the state of the public finances, Winter Fuel Payments in England and Wales were linked to receipt of Pension Credit or other qualifying income-related benefits. The Scottish Government brought forward similar new legislation in the Scottish Parliament for a Pension Age Winter Heating Payment that replaced the Winter Fuel Payment in Scotland – which was also linked to Pension Credit and other qualifying benefits.

From Winter 2025 to 2026, Winter Fuel Payments were made to all pensioners in England and Wales. Pensioners with taxable income over £35,000 per annum, and not in receipt of Pension Credit or other qualifying benefits, will have the payment recovered through the personal tax system. The Scottish Government announced that Pension Age Winter Heating Payments will be paid at a slightly higher rate than Winter Fuel Payments and that they will also be recovered via the tax system in the same way as Winter Fuel Payments.

Results

Applications

Comparing the most recent 52-weeks of data (24 February 2025 to 22 February 2026), DWP has received 209,735 Pension Credit claim applications in Great Britain, a decrease of 36% compared to 327,330 Pension Credit claim applications for the comparable 52-week period a year previous (26 February 2024 to 23 February 2025).

Figure 1: Number of weekly Pension Credit applications in Great Britain, week commencing 26 February 2024 to week commencing 16 February 2026

Note:

1. The X-axis tick marks refer to individual weekly data points, starting week commencing 26 February 2024, weeks are shown grouped into quarters (13-week periods) and year for contextual reference.

2. Data is not seasonally adjusted.

3. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5.

4. Advanced pension Credit claims are included in claim application figures.

Claims cleared – awarded, and not awarded

In the most recent 52-weeks of data (24 February 2025 to 22 February 2026), DWP has cleared 242,440 Pension Credit claims, a decrease of 25% compared to 322,105 Pension Credit claim clearances for the equivalent 52-week period a year previous (26 February 2024 to 23 February 2025).

In the most recent 52-weeks of data (24 February 2025 to 22 February 2026), DWP has cleared and awarded 147,150 Pension Credit claim applications, and not awarded 95,290 Pension Credit claim applications, in Great Britain. This is a decrease of 13% compared to 169,640 Pension Credit claims awarded and a decrease of 38% compared to 152,465 Pension Credit claims not awarded in the equivalent 52-week period a year previous (26 February 2024 to 23 February 2025).

Figure 2: Number of weekly Pension Credit claims cleared – awarded and cleared – not awarded in Great Britain, week commencing 26 February 2024 to week commencing 16 February 2026

Note:  

1. The X-axis tick marks refer to individual weekly data points, starting week commencing 26 February 2024, weeks are shown grouped into quarters (13-week periods) and year for contextual reference. 

2. Data is not seasonally adjusted. 

3. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. 

Outstanding Pension Credit claims  

For the most recent week of available data (week commencing 16 data February 2026), there were 11,710 outstanding outstanding Pension Credit claims in Great Britain still to be processed. 

Outstanding claims at week commencing 16 February 2026 has decreased by 65%, or 21,980 fewer outstanding claims, compared to a year previous (week commencing 17 February 2025). 

Figure 3: Number of weekly outstanding Pension Credit claims in Great Britain, week commencing 26 February 2024 to week commencing 16 February 2026

Note:  

1. The X-axis tick marks refer to individual weekly data points, starting week commencing 26 February 2024, weeks are shown grouped into quarters (13-week periods) and year for contextual reference.

2. Data is not seasonally adjusted. 

3. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. 

4. Advanced Pension Credit claims are excluded from outstanding Pension Credit claims (as these can not be processed until an individual or household have research State Pension age). As a result, weekly outstanding claims figures can not be derived using applications, clearances, and a previous week’s outstanding claims figure.

About these statistics 

This release is classed official statistics in development. As this is a new series of data that has previously not been published, we will continue to develop collection methodology and quality assurance processes going forward.

The statistics have undergone thorough quality assurance in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. All types of official statistics should comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics which makes sure official statistics are trustworthy, have public value, and are of high quality. The strengths and limitations of these statistics are explained in the Data strength and limitations section below.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly at RS.ServiceAnalytics@DWP.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Please note

This inbox is for statistical queries only and cannot be used to check progress of an individual Pension Credit claim.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

This is an update to the series published on 27 November 2025.

Previous publications in this series included a narrative on these statistics relating to the increase Pension Credit applications and awards following the Winter Fuel Payment announcement on 29 July 2024 for Winter 2024 to 2025. Following the subsequent changes for Winter 2025 to 2026 (see ‘Policy Context’ section above for more detail), statistics in this series will now provide a 52-week rolling presentation of national (Great Britain, GB) figures.

Due to the data being sourced from Management Information (MI), which is subject to retrospective change, figures may have changed any given week from the previous publication. Please ensure data from the most recent publication is being used.

Figures here, and in publications following the August 2025 supplementary release published on 16 September 2025, are presented to the nearest 5. Prior to these releases, figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Therefore, comparisons with previous releases may result in inaccurate representation of the retrospective changes made in the MI. Data tables are now published in a separate document, which will include national (GB) and geographic data. Due to these changes, and the quantity of data now being published as a part of this release, a revision table typically supplied in this series will not be provided for this and future publications. Further detail can be found in the Data strength and limitations section below.

Numbers in this publication are not comparable with the DWP benefit statistics published quarterly on gov.uk. This is because this publication relates to Pension Credit applications as opposed to those currently in receipt of Pension Credit.

Data strength and limitations

Figures presented in this release are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only. They provide the best source of application, clearances and outstanding claims data available for Pension Credit.

Changes to operational and data recording processes, alongside further methodology and quality assurance checks, indicates minor volatility in previous weeks operational data is possible. We believe this does not materially change scale and trends presented in this statistical release, however it is possible future Pension Credit MI data publications will include updated data for previous weeks. Where this occurs, the Department will ensure this is clearly highlighted as per OSR guidance.

Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics

The Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code) is built around 3 main concepts, or pillars:

• trustworthiness – is about having confidence in the people and organisations that publish statistics

• quality – is about using data and methods that produce statistics

• value – is about publishing statistics that support society’s needs

The following explains how we have applied the pillars of the Code in a proportionate way.

Trustworthiness

DWP analysts work to a professional competency framework and Civil Service core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity, and impartiality. The analysis in this release has been scrutinised and received sign off by the expert lead analyst.

We protect the security of our data in order to maintain the privacy of the citizen, fulfil relevant legal obligations and uphold our obligation that no statistics will be produced that are likely to identify an individual, while at the same time taking account of our obligation to obtain maximum value from the data we hold for statistical purposes. All analysts are given security training, and the majority of data accessed by analysts is obfuscated and access is business case controlled based to the minimum data required.

Quality

This publication uses internal management information from DWP’s Pension Credit internal systems and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards. However, engagement has taken place with data owners to ensure this data is fit-for-purpose and of sufficient quality for publication. Multiple rounds of quality assurance have been applied to ensure the data is as accurate and reliable as possible. During the development various quality assurance activities took place:

• collaboration with data providers to understand the data sources and ensure data is fit-for-purpose and of sufficient quality for publication

• work to match variables in the management information (MI) to variables on the existing system to ensure data was acquired correctly

Checks were performed to assess:

• reliability, completeness and level of disclosure of individual variables

• levels of duplicate, missing or contradictory information

• comparability to related statistics such as the main Pension Credit applications and awards and Winter Fuel Payment statistical series

Value

These statistics were first published given the public interest in Pension Credit claims following the changes which linked Winter Fuel Payments (in England and Wales) and Pension Age Winter Heating Payments (in Scotland) to receipt of Pension Credit or other qualifying benefits for Winter 2024 to 2025. Changes from Winter 2025 to 2026 mean that Winter Fuel Payments and Pension Age Winter Heating Payments were made to all pensioners and no longer linked to receipt of Pension Credit (see policy context section for more details).

The figures add to the wider set of information on those who are claiming Pension Credit. The figures also help support answering Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests and other forms of ad hoc enquiry.

Contact information

For press enquiries contact DWP Press Office at mailbox newsdesk@dwp.gov.uk