Raising awareness Pension Credit for unpaid Carers
Pension Credit Awareness Week
Pension Credit gives you extra money to help with your living costs if you’re over State Pension age and on a low income. Pension Credit can also help with housing costs such as ground rent or service charges
You might get extra help if you’re a carer, severely disabled, or responsible for a child or young person.
Pension Credit is separate from your State Pension.
You can get Pension Credit even if you have other income, savings or own your own home.
Other help if you get Pension Credit
If you get Pension Credit you can also get other help, such as:
- Housing Benefit if you rent the property you live in
- Cost of Living Payments
- Support for Mortgage Interest if you own the property you live in
- a Council Tax discount
- a free TV licence if you’re aged 75 or over
- Help with NHS dental treatment, glasses and transport costs for hospital appointments, if you get a certain type of Pension Credit
- Help with your heating costs through the Warm Home Discount Scheme
- a discount on the Royal Mail redirection service if you’re moving house.
2. Eligibility
You must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached State Pension age to qualify for Pension Credit.
If you have a partner
You must include your partner on your application.
You’ll be eligible if either:
- You and your partner have both reached State Pension age
- One of you is getting Housing Benefit for people over State Pension age
A partner is either:
- Your husband, wife or civil partner - if you live with them
- Someone you live with as a couple, without being married or in a civil partnership
Your income
When you apply for Pension Credit your income is calculated. If you have a partner, your income is calculated together.
Pension Credit tops up:
- Your weekly income to £201.05 if you’re single
- Your joint weekly income to £306.85 if you have a partner
If your income is higher, you might still be eligible for Pension Credit if you have a disability, you care for someone, you have savings or you have housing costs.
What counts as income
Your income includes:
- State Pension
- Other pensions
- Earnings from employment and self-employment
- Most social security benefits, for example Carer’s Allowance
What does not count as income
Not all benefits are counted as income. For example, the following are not counted:
- Adult Disability Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Christmas Bonus
- Child Benefit
- Disability Living Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment
- Social fund payments like Winter Fuel Allowance
- Housing Benefit
- Council Tax Reduction
If you’ve deferred your pension
If you’re entitled to a personal or workplace pension and you have not claimed it yet, the amount you’d expect to get still counts as income.
If you’ve deferred your State Pension, the amount of State Pension you would get is counted as income.
You cannot build up extra amounts for deferring your State Pension if you or your partner are getting Pension Credit.
Your savings and investments
If you have £10,000 or less in savings and investments this will not affect your Pension Credit.
If you have more than £10,000, every £500 over £10,000 counts as £1 income a week. For example, if you have £11,000 in savings, this counts as £2 income a week.
3. What you'll get
Pension Credit tops up:
- Your weekly income to £201.05 if you’re single
- Your joint weekly income to £306.85 if you have a partner
You may get extra amounts if you have other responsibilities and costs.
The top up and extra amounts are known as ‘Guarantee Credit’.
If you have a severe disability
You could get an extra £76.40 a week if you get any of the following:
- Attendance Allowance
- The middle or highest rate from the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- The daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- The daily living component of Adult Disability Payment (ADP) at the standard or enhanced rate
If you care for another adult
You could get an extra £42.75 a week if:
- You get Carer’s Allowance
- you’ve claimed Carer’s Allowance but are not being paid because you already get another benefit paying a higher amount
If you and your partner have both claimed or are getting Carer’s Allowance, you can both get this extra amount.
If you have housing costs
You could get an extra amount to cover your housing costs, such as:
- Ground rent if your property is a leasehold
- Some service charges
- Charges for tents and site rents
The amount you could get depends on your housing costs.
If you get Pension Credit, you could also be eligible for:
- Council Tax Reduction
- Housing Benefit if you rent the property you live in
- Support for Mortgage Interest if you own the property you live in
If you have savings or a second pension
You could get the ‘Savings Credit’ part of Pension Credit if both of the following apply:
- You reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016
- You saved some money for retirement, for example a personal or workplace pension
You’ll get up to £15.94 Savings Credit a week if you’re single. If you have a partner, you’ll get up to £17.84 a week.
You might still get some Savings Credit even if you do not get the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit.
Other help if you get Pension Credit
If you get Pension Credit, you’ll automatically get cold weather payments.
You’ll also be eligible to:
- Apply for a free TV licence if you’re aged 75 or over
- Help with NHS costs if you get the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit
NHS costs can include things such as prescriptions, dental treatment, glasses and transport costs for hospital appointments.
Find out how much you could receive
Contact the Pension Service helpline if you’re not sure whether you’re eligible for extra amounts.
Pension Service helpline
Telephone: 0800 731 0469
Textphone: 0800 169 0133
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 731 0469
British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service if you’re on a computer - find out how to use the service on mobile or tablet
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
Find out about call charges
How you’re paid
All benefits, pensions and allowances are usually paid into an account, for example a bank account.
4. How to claim
You can start your application up to 4 months before you reach State Pension age.
You can apply any time after you reach State Pension age but your application can only be backdated by 3 months. This means you can get up to 3 months of Pension Credit in your first payment if you were eligible during that time.
Information you’ll need
You’ll need the following information about you and your partner if you have one:
- National Insurance number
- Information about any income, savings and investments you have
- Information about your income, savings and investments on the date you want to backdate your application to (usually 3 months ago or the date you reached State Pension age)
You’ll also need your bank account details. Depending on how you apply, you may also be asked for your bank or building society name, sort code and account number.
Apply online
You can use the online service if you have already applied for your State Pension.