Understanding non-take-up of Pension Credit and evaluating strategies to effectively boost it

Last registered on April 26, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Understanding non-take-up of Pension Credit and evaluating strategies to effectively boost it
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012846
Initial registration date
April 22, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 26, 2024, 12:02 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Tom Waters
Affiliation
Institute for Fiscal Studies
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-01-29
End date
2024-12-31
Keywords
Welfare
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We aim to investigate the effect of notifying individuals who are eligible for but not receiving a welfare benefit about their entitlement through targeted letters. These letters will be sent to low-income pensioners who are entitled to Pension Credit (PC), the UK's key safety net benefit for pensioners. The letters will vary in their content:
a) A basic letter, informing pensioners about PC, how much they are entitled to, and how to claim
b) A letter like (a) which also attempts to reduce stigma by emphasising that most eligible people claim
c) A letter like (a) except with branding from AgeUK, a highly trusted third party, rather than the borough, who may not be trusted
d) A letter like (a) which also emphasises that PC is private, so friends and family will not know the claimant gets it
Eligible non-claimants of PC will be identified using administrative benefits data. They will be randomly sent one of the four above letters. Those receiving allocated to letters (a)-(c) will be sent the letter in January or February 2024. Those allocated to letter (d) will be sent the letter in July or August 2024. This allows them to act as a control group up until that point.
We will investigate the impact of different letters on claiming PC, poverty rates, council tax arrears, and social rent arrears.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Waters, Tom. 2024. "Understanding non-take-up of Pension Credit and evaluating strategies to effectively boost it." AEA RCT Registry. April 26. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12846-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-01-29
Intervention End Date
2024-08-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Claiming PC six months after the letter is sent out
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Claiming Attendance Allowance, poverty rates, council tax arrears, and social rent arrears.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Poverty rates will be calculated by comparing the household's income (as measured in the administrative data we are using) to the official before housing cost absolute and relative poverty line for 2024-25 (from the Households Below Average Income data).
Data on social rent arrears are only available in some boroughs. We will only examine the impact on social rent arrears for those households for whom we can observe them.
We will examine both share of households in arrears (council tax and social rent) and the average level of arrears as outcomes.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
RCT with equal sized treatment arms. Letter (d) (described in the intervention field) is sent out 6 months after letters (a) to (c), meaning that recipients act as a control arm until that point. To evaluate letter (d) we will use a matched case-control approach.
We will stratify randomisation by borough and estimated PC eligibility.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomisation done in an office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Household
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
9,638 households
Sample size: planned number of observations
9,638 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Approx. 2,409 in each of the four treatment arms (letters a to d)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
When comparing the impact of the standard letter (A) vs. control, we will have 99.9% power at the 5% significance level to detect a 20% effect (that is, a 20ppt difference in take-up). When comparing the impact of the stigma or trust letter (B or C) vs. the standard letter (A), we will have 88% power at the 5% significance level to detect a 4% effect. When comparing the impact of the privacy letter (D) vs. the standard letter (A), we will have 80% power at the 5% significance level to detect a 4% effect.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan