Oh they claim it alright .... it's just made incredibly difficult to be awarded! The powers in control find some excuse not to let the pensioners have what is rightfully theirs!

Missing the point here - no one should have to claim these payments. Why?
Because this country can afford to pay much higher pensions and so no additional money would then need to be claimed.
If 42% qualify then the system is crap.

Pensioners do not claim the tax credits because if they are receiving any council tax rebate or housing benefit then the pension credit is simply deducted from the benefit so they are no better off.. give with one hand take away with the other.

The phone number above is John Prescott's, he'll keep you right about claiming the maximum amount possible.

Why should they have to claim it? Surely if it is due to them then just pay it.

No.2 - The awkward truth is that, just as some of the poorest people in this country are pensioners (especially the most elderly), some of the richest people are also pensioners. This is especially true of many (but by no means all) of the baby-boomers who are now retiring, after having bought homes cheaply and watched their values rise rapidly. Why should today's workers, who can never expect the chance of such housing and wealth for themselves, be taxed to give these people bigger pensions? Our responsibility has to be to help those pensioners who most need our help.

No.3 - I may be wrong, but I thought that if you got pension credit then you automatically got council tax benefit too (and housing benefit where appropriate).

Why should our elderly be insulted and made to lay open their private personal affairs to youngsters working in local authority office departments so as they can enjoy what should be their's by right;
A DECENT CIVILISED PENSION to enable them to enjoy what is left of a miserable life for so many
on a pittance pension. One must NEVER forget; Brown promised,should Labour regain government power, their first priority would be to re-instate the pension linked to earnings the cruel Thatcher ruthlessly ended.
But it was also Brown in league with his Edinburgh colleague Darling who awarded the insulting 75p
weekly pension increase while awarding themselve a 20% salary increase for their Champagne socialist MP pals at the same time.
Typical of the Christian hypocrites that abound in New Labour whose main concern is to line their own pockets.

Sorry Wattie, I think you're misreading history. The first priority of Labour was NOT "to re-instate the pension linked to earnings". The first priority was the mistaken decision not to increase spending in 1997-99 above the Tories' plans - which meant little room for increased spending on anything. That led to, amongst other things, the insulting 75p increase in the pension at that time. The second priority was "Education, education, education".

I've just googled for Labour's 1997 manifesto. It says "The basic state pension will be retained as the foundation of pension provision. It will be increased at least in line with prices. We will examine means of delivering more automatic help to the poorest pensioners...". In other words, they made NO commitment at all in their manifesto to increasing pensions for all in line with earnings.

Why should pensioners be asked to give their personal financial details when applying for benefits? One reason is it's what all other adults have to do when they apply for benefits. So pensioners are not being treated more harshly than anyone else. A bigger reason is that, while some pensioners understandably feel that pride stops them from giving this information, there are many pensioners out there who will happily take whatever extra money they're offered from the state even if they don't need it and - in some cases - are much wealthier than the working age people who have to pay for their larger pensions.