Pension credit, also known as state pension credit, is a benefit for people who are on a low income and have reached pension age. It is intended to give you extra money in retirement.
Contents
How is Pension Credit made up?
Pension credit additional amount for severe disability
Pension credit and universal credit
Pension credit: more information
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How is Pension Credit made up?
There are two parts to Pension credit, the guarantee credit and the savings credit.
Guarantee credit
You can get this if you are on a low income. It is intended to provide for your basic living expenses. If you have a severe disability, an additional amount for severe disability may be included in your award. You can get an additional amount in your award if you have a dependent child or young person.
Pension credit additional amount for severe disability
To be entitled to this, you must meet all of the following conditions:
- you must be getting a qualifying benefit (see below);
- you must live alone (there are exceptions to this rule, eg if you just live with your partner and they also get a qualifying benefit); and
- no one gets carer's allowance for looking after you.
The following are ‘qualifying benefits’:
- the care component of disability living allowance at the middle or highest rate;
- attendance allowance;
- constant attendance allowance (paid with the Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes);
- the daily living component of personal independence payment or adult disability payment; or
- armed forces independence payment.
The rate for a single person (or couple, if just one partner qualifies) is £81.50. The couple rate, if both qualify, is £163.
If your partner is certified as severely sight impaired or blind by a consultant ophthalmologist (or has ceased to be so certified in the past 28 weeks), you can still qualify for the premium even if they do not get a qualifying benefit. You are treated as if you were a single person living alone.
Savings credit
This was intended to give you a small amount of extra money as a 'reward' for having income from earnings, savings or pensions over the level of the basic state pension. Savings credit is being phased out. Only people who’ve reached pension age before 6 April 2016 may be eligible to claim the savings credit.
Pension credit and universal credit
If you are claiming as a couple and only one of you is over pension age (a ‘mixed-age couple’), you will have to claim universal credit instead until the younger partner also reaches pension age.
Before 15 May 2019, you could claim pension credit (and housing benefit towards your rent) if just one of you had reached pension age. If you qualified this way, you can continue to receive pension credit as long as you continue to meet the other qualifying conditions.
If you are claiming universal credit, there are no work-conditionality rules for the claimant who is over pension age.
Pension credit in hospital
The day you are admitted is treated as a day out of hospital and the day you are discharged is treated as a day in hospital.
Pension credit is paid for an indefinite period as long as the other qualifying conditions are met. Certain additional amounts and housing costs are affected:
- The additional amount for severe disability will stop after four weeks if you are in hospital and you lose your attendance allowance, disability living allowance care component, personal independence payment daily living component or adult disability payment daily living component. If you have a partner who is not in hospital and who also qualifies for the additional amount for severe disability, they will continue to get it.
- The additional amount for carers will stop 8 weeks after your carer’s allowance or carer support payment stops.
- Once you have been in hospital for a continuous period of 52 weeks, if you have no dependants living in your home, you can no longer get pension credit housing costs. If you have dependants or other people living in your home, their right to benefit depends on their own circumstances. If you are one of a couple and have been in hospital for 52 weeks, you and your partner are treated as separate claimants.
Pension credit: more information
For more about pension credit, including claiming, amounts, and where to get help, go to the Age UK website. They also have an online benefit calculator.
You can also calculate your pension credit on the Gov UK website
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Information
For more detailed information aimed at advisers, see our Disability Rights Handbook
