DWP demands bank statements from thousands of retirees as part of massive £370million benefits crackdown

THOUSANDS of pensioners are being told to hand over their bank statements to the Government as part of a huge crackdown on the benefits system. The Department for Work and Pensions is contacting recipients of Pension Credit to check their claims are correct, in a drive to save £370million from the welfare bill. Pension Credit tops up the income of pensioners on a low income, boosting a single person’s weekly income to £238 and a couple’s to £363.25. That works out at £12,736 a year, and around 1.4 million households currently receive the benefit. Sign up for the Money newsletter Thank you! The crackdown was first announced by former chancellor Rachel Reeves in last year’s autumn Budget, but the DWP has now started contacting selected claimants for case reviews, according to i News. As part of the checks, some pensioners will be asked to provide recent bank statements so officials can see whether their savings or income have changed since they first claimed. Officials say the reviews could see some pensioners lose money if their savings have grown, while others could actually be owed more cash. Anyone who has run down their savings since first claiming, perhaps due to the rising cost of living, may be entitled to a bigger payment if they have not told the DWP. The first £10,000 of savings is ignored when working out Pension Credit, but every £500 above that counts as £1 a week in income. That means someone with £11,000 saved would have £2 a week counted as income, which can reduce their benefit payment. Most read in Money However, those who have received an inheritance or taken a pension lump sum could see their entitlement cut if their savings have risen since they first claimed. The Government expects to claw back £15 million this year alone. The average overpayment being clawed back is thought to be around £1,400 per case. DWP figures show the proportion of overpaid Pension Credit claims rose to 33% in the 2025/26 tax year, up from 28% the year before. A DWP spokesperson said: “We know that a claimant’s circumstances can change throughout their claim, which can lead to their claim being incorrect.” “By reviewing claims, we can ensure claimants are receiving the correct entitlement. “The Government wants all pensioners to get the support they are rightly entitled to and thanks to our biggest ever pension credit take-up campaign, we have seen an additional 33,500 Pension Credit awards in 2025, worth on average £87 a week, compared with the previous year.” Despite the crackdown, hundreds of thousands of pensioners are still missing out on the benefit altogether, with an estimated 761,000 eligible people failing to claim it last year. Comment now