I think it’s going to get a lot worse for a lot of people for a long time before it gets any better
I moved over from benefits to my state pension in June, at the moment I’m almost £400 a month worse off as Pension Credits have a massive backlog. Reading posts on Rightsnet people were already waiting up to 6 months for payments to start and the recent goverment push for more pensioners to make sure they claimed Pension Credit has only added to the backlog. Like you I now avoid using the car unless I have to, every time I have to go anywhere I’m working out what it will cost me.
Hi is the state pension if you cannot get pension credit payed out straight after you swap benefits as i have been told i will not be able to get the credit due to my private pension.