Official Statistics

Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2025

Updated 3 December 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2025 

Published 27 November 2025 

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 23 November 2025, in Great Britain only.  

Main story  

Comparing the most recent 52-weeks of data in Great Britain (25 November 2024 to 23 November 2025), with the comparable period in 2023 to 2024 (27 November 2023 to 24 November 2024), Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has: 

• received 231,180 Pension Credit applications – a 26% decrease or 80,670 fewer applications on the comparable period in 2024 to 2025

• cleared and awarded 179,455 Pension Credit claims – a 36% increase or 47,285 extra claims awarded on the comparable period in 2024 to 2025

• cleared and not awarded 132,535 Pension Credit claims – a 14% increase or 16,200 extra clearances not awarded on the comparable period in 2024 to 2025. 

There were 12,940 outstanding Pension Credit claims still to be processed at the end of week commencing 17 November 2025 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 claims: 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 constrained 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 will be 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 has 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 (25 November 2024 to 23 November 2025), DWP has received 231,180 Pension Credit claim applications in Great Britain, a decrease of 26% compared to the comparable 52-week period in 2023/24 (27 November 2023 to 24 November 2024). 

Figure 1: Number of weekly Pension Credit applications in Great Britain, week commencing 16 October 2023 to week commencing 23 November 2025

Note:  

1. the X-axis tick marks refer to individual weekly data points, starting week commencing 16 October 2023 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 (25 November 2024 to 23 November 2025), DWP has cleared and awarded 179,455, and not awarded 132,535, Pension Credit claim applications in Great Britain. This is an increase of 36% of awarded and increase of 14% not awarded, compared to the equivalent 52-week period in 2023 to 2024 (27 November 2023 to 24 November 2024). 

Figure 2: Number of weekly Pension Credit claims cleared – awarded and cleared – not awarded in Great Britain, week commencing 16 October 2023 to week commencing 23 November 2025

Note:  

1. the X-axis tick marks refer to individual weekly data points, starting week commencing 16 October 2023 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  

The most recent week of available data (week commencing 17 November 2025), there are 12,940 outstanding Pension Credit claims in Great Britain still to be processed. 

Outstanding claims at week commencing 17 November 2025 has decreased by 84%, or 68,845 fewer outstanding claims, compared to a year previous (week commencing 18 November 2024). 

Figure 3: Number of weekly outstanding Pension Credit claims in Great Britain, week commencing 16 October 2023 to week commencing 23 November 2025

Note:  

1. the X-axis tick marks refer to individual weekly data points, starting week commencing 16 October 2023 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 28 August 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 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 are being published given public interest in Pension Credit claims following the Chancellor’s announcement on the 29 July 2024 that Winter Fuel payments will be limited to those on Pension Credit or other means tested benefits from Winter 2024 to 2025 (see ‘Policy context’ section for more details on this and more recent changes to policy). 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