Pension Credit

As an amendment to motion S6M-01586 in the name of Katy Clark (Pension Credit), leave out from "the Scottish Government is statutorily obligated" to end and insert "Pension Credit is a matter reserved to the UK Government and there are no plans to devolve any matters relating to pensions to the Scottish Parliament; further understands that the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has confirmed that the Scottish Government has no statutory duty to promote reserved benefits; believes that social security is an essential human right; acknowledges that Age Scotland estimates around £332 million-worth of financial support is going unclaimed by 123,000 older households across the country; acknowledges the results of Age Scotland’s Big Survey of Older People 2021, which reported that 38% had struggled to pay increased bills and 26% felt financially squeezed; notes with concern modelling by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, which suggest that tens of thousands of Scotland's households will experience fuel poverty as a result of Ofgem’s record price cap rise, and urges the UK Government to take responsibility of the reserved matter and run a targeted, UK-wide campaign to increase Pension Credit uptake."