EAST Lancashire MPs Peter Pike and Gordon Prentice want the government to do more to get cash to Britain's poorest this Christmas.

They tackled Social Security Secretary Alaistair Darling on the issue before the House of Commons broke up for the festive break.

Mr Pike wants to see the amount of money spend on administering the social fund -- which provides grants, loans, clothes and furniture to the hard up -- reduced so that more can go to families and people in need.

And Mr Prentice wants action to ensure that more of Britain's poorest pensioners claim their Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) of £92.15 for a single pensioner a week and £140.55 for a couple which will rise to at least £100 and £154 in April 2003.

Burnley MP Mr Pike said that although there had been a big reduction in the administrative costs of the social fund since Labour was elected in 1997, he said more must be done to help the poorer section of the community.

He said that the social fund remains too expensive to run and it was time to introduce a "better and fairer system to help the people most in need."

Mr Darling promised to do all he could to reduce administrative costs and make sure the money went where it was needed.

Mr Prentice was told by Mr Darling that although 750,000 people had claimed MIG and 62,000 had so far been awarded it, there were still 500,000 who had not bothered to approach the government. Mr Prentice called on the government to "pull out all the stops" and target "the very elderly and frail and those with failing eyesight or hearing" who might be unlikely to claim.

He added: "If we mean what we say about reaching the poorest pensioners, might not the only way of doing that be to employ people to knock on doors, speak to those people and encourage them to take up their entitlement?"

Mr Darling said the government accepted there was a problem and that it was "constantly looking at what to do about that."

But he said the MIG was the best way to help the poorest pensioners out of poverty.

Mr Prentice added afterwards: "We've got to make sure that everyone who can benefit does claim."