I congratulate Evelyn Tweed on securing the debate. I will restrict my comments to the percentage of eligible pensioners who do not claim pension credit. This is not the first, nor probably the last, speech that I will make on the topic.

Earlier this year, pensioners received notification from the DWP of the pension that they would be paid from April, together with—to be fair—a leaflet advising of pension credit. However, members might not be aware that 40 per cent of pensioners who are entitled to pension credit do not claim it. That figure has remained unchanged for decades.

What is pension credit? It is a UK benefit and you can check online whether you qualify, or you can contact your local citizens advice bureau or my office or use Age UK’s website, which has a handy calculator to check whether you are eligible. It is discreet, and there should never be reluctance to claim that right.

Broadly speaking, when you apply for pension credit, your income is calculated. If you have a partner, both incomes are calculated together. If you qualify, your weekly income is topped up to £218.15 if you are single; if you have a partner, your joint weekly income is topped up to £332.95. Even if your income is higher, you might still be eligible for pension credit if you have a disability, care for someone, have savings or have housing costs.

Apart from that direct income boost, if you get pension credit, you can also get other help known as passported benefits, such as housing benefit if you rent the property that you live in, a cost of living payment, support for mortgage interest if you own the property that you live in, a free TV licence if you are aged 75 or over, and help to pay for national health service dental treatment, glasses and transport costs for hospital appointments. If you get a certain type of pension credit, you can get help with your heating costs through the warm home discount scheme, and you can even get a discount on using the Royal Mail redirection service if you are moving house. A whole range of passported benefits follow if you claim your pension credit, so it is worth seeing whether you are entitled to it. I stress that it is an entitlement, not a handout.

Here are some statistics that are relevant to Midlothian and the Borders. The estimated unclaimed pension credit per annum in Midlothian is £2.5 million, and in the Borders it is £3.66 million. The expected uptake in Midlothian, after campaigns, is only 31 per cent, while in the Borders it is 44 per cent. The lost passported benefits in Midlothian are worth £20,000-plus and those in the Borders are worth £30,000. The number of households that are losing out is estimated to be 92 in Midlothian and 133 in the Borders. Those are entitlements that could affect those 92 and 133 households, where individuals are scraping by when they need not, and should not, be doing so.

I have raised the issue of raising awareness with the UK Government, and I have asked Scottish Borders Council to publicise pension credit in the transport exchange in Galashiels. I will extend my campaign to increase awareness through my entire constituency. In these tough times of austerity and inflation, every claim counts. Please chase it up if you think that you might be entitled to pension credit, even if you are not sure. As I have said, my office would be pleased to help, and all contacts with us are confidential. To those 92 and 133 or so households in Midlothian and the Borders, I say: please claim. It can make all the difference, so that you do not have to choose between heating or eating.