: o t Pension e p , o l e ) e c p v i n v m r e a t e s n Credit

S from April 2012 a a s n d i t e h n e g o n i p t ’ R u n o o e c r d a s u i f l o h t y e ( d W R n , e l B i s 8 c r n o 1 u R 3 o 1 P C 0 0 n y o t 3 t 5 n s 0 u e o 5 r 4 P C 8 ) , 0 e s T r s ( i n S s e i e o h e O m n e M s s s / d a o P a m s s u o h r N E a e c c p r t t g n E M n e r d s s / l n r r i a R u d o i e L F R M S F A P T ...what is Important facts about Pension Credit there is no upper limit on the amount of savings you Pension can have and you can get an award backdated for up to 3 months before the date you make a claim and you can claim if you or your partner are working and Credit? any award of Pension Credit means you can also get help like Cold Weather Payments and Community Pension Credit is a cash benefit from the Pension Care Grants from the Social Fund and Service, part of the Department for Work and Pensions even a small award of guarantee credit (see page 5) (DWP). It is tax-free and you do not need to have paid will passport you to other benefits such as Housing National Insurance to get it. Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (even if you have You can claim up to 4 months before your qualifying age. over £16,000 savings), and help to pay for things like The qualifying age is gradually rising in line with the NHS dental treatment, glasses, travel to hospital and increase in the age a woman can claim State Pension other NHS centres for NHS treatment, and wigs and from 60 to 65. To find out your qualifying age contact The fabric supports. Pension Service on 0800 991234. Pension Credit is made up of two parts: the guarantee credit, if you have reached your qualifying age (see page 2), tops up your weekly income to a set level the savings credit, if you are 65 or over, gives you extra money if you have savings or your weekly income is more than the basic State Pension. You could get one or both parts.

2 3 Working out your weekly income The Guarantee Credit

If you want to work out your weekly income here are If the money you have to live on each week is below a some points to remember. set amount called the minimum guarantee, you can claim the guarantee credit to top it up to that amount. Savings up to £10,000 are ignored. For savings over £10,000 you are counted as having £1 a week for Who can claim? every extra £500 of savings (plus £1 for any You can claim if you have reached your qualifying age remainder). But there is no upper savings limit to (see page 2). stop you from claiming. If you are a couple one of you claims for both of you. The value of your own home is ignored. As long as the one who claims has reached the When the DWP counts up how much money you qualifying age, it does not matter how old their partner is. have coming in, they do not count Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, voluntary or charitable payments, or some other types of income. If you are bringing up a child, perhaps your How much can you get? grandchild, they are From April 2012 the minimum guarantee is £142.70 if not included in the you are single, and £217.90 for a couple. But this figure calculation. Any can be higher, depending on your circumstances. income you get for See pages 9 – 11. them, such as Child The amount of guarantee credit you get depends on Benefit and Child Tax whether your income is lower than this figure. See Credit, is ignored. ‘Working out your weekly income’ on page 4.

4 5 Sajidah is 63 and lives alone. She has retired and is How much can you get? in good health. Her State Pension is £107.45 a week You can get the savings credit if your weekly income is and she has just over £12,000 savings. Sajidah claims more than £111.80 if you are single, or more than Pension Credit and gets £30.25 a week (her savings £178.35 for a couple. You get an extra 60 pence for count as income of £5 a week). Sajidah also gets every pound of your weekly income above these figures enough Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit to up to a maximum of £18.54 a week if you are single or cover all her rent and council tax. £23.73 a week for a couple. This is paid on top of any guarantee credit you get. But if your weekly income is too high to get the guarantee credit, your savings credit is reduced so if your income is a lot higher you may not get any savings The Savings Credit credit either. Working out Pension Credit can be complicated. To see if you qualify get a benefit check You may qualify for the savings credit if your income is (see page 13). more than just basic State Pension, for example if you have SERPS, or an occupational pension, or savings over £10,000. You can get the savings credit even if you don’t qualify for the guarantee credit, or you could get both.

Who can claim? To get the savings credit you or your partner must be 65 or over.

6 7 Jill and Tom are a couple in their If you get Attendance Allowance or 70’s, both in good health. They have Disability Living Allowance (middle or £234 a week coming in made up of highest rate care) State Pensions and works pensions. They have savings of £5,000 between You may be able to get more Pension Credit if you get them. Jill claims Pension Credit for Attendance Allowance, or the middle or highest rate both of them. Their weekly income is care component of Disability Living Allowance. Get a too high to get the guarantee credit but benefit check if this applies to you (see page 13). they get a savings credit of £17.29 a week. They tell the council and, although their Council Tax Benefit is reduced by £1.92 a week, they are £15.37 a week better off overall. They also get their claim backdated 3 months and get over £200 arrears. Joe is 80 and lives alone. He has People with quite high savings may still be able to get State Pension of £120, and Pension Pension Credit. Credit of £27.62 a week. He claims and gets Attendance Allowance of She lives alone and rents her May is 78. £77.45 a week. Attendance Allowance home. She gets State Pension of £107.45 a is not counted as income, and it week and Attendance Allowance of £51.85 a means he now qualifies for a higher week. She has £30,000 savings. May claims amount of Pension Credit, an extra Pension Credit and gets an award of £71.99 £58.20 a week. a week , made up of a guarantee credit of £53.45 and a savings credit of £18.54. Because she gets guarantee credit she now also gets all her rent and council tax paid by Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

8 9 Looking after someone Home-owners with housing costs

You may be able to get more Pension Credit if you are You can get more Pension Credit if you are a looking after someone who gets Attendance Allowance home-owner and you have housing costs such as a or the middle or highest rate care component of mortgage, or a loan for essential repairs. Or you may Disability Living Allowance. But you need to get advice have to pay ground rent or a service charge on your first to make sure your claim for the extra money will not property, perhaps for maintaining the building. affect the benefits of the person you are looking after. Get a benefit check (see page 13). Rita and Winston own their home. Their income including Pension Credit Vi and Niall are a couple in their comes to £217.90 a week, and their 70’s who both get Attendance savings are under £2,000. They have Allowance and take care of each to take out a loan for £10,000 for other. They already get State home repairs. They tell the Pension Pensions and Pension Credit, but Service and they get just under £7 a they may be able to get extra Pension week extra Pension Credit. Credit if they both claim Carer’s Allowance for caring for each other. After getting advice they are told they will get an extra £65.20 a week in Pension Credit.

10 11 If you live in a care home How to claim

You can also claim Pension Credit and savings up to Ring the Pension Service Helpline on 0800 991234 £10,000 are ignored. If you pay your fees yourself, (text 0800 1690133). They can take your claim over the without help from Social Care Services, any Attendance phone. If this is not possible and there is nobody else Allowance or Disability Living Allowance care who can help you they may send a visitor to your component you get will continue in payment and you home instead. could get extra Pension Credit (see page 9). If you get You can also claim online or download a claim form help from Social Care Services, Attendance Allowance from the government website www.direct.gov.uk and the care component of Disability Living Allowance You can claim up to 3 months backdating so make normally stop after four weeks and any extra Pension sure you ask for this when you claim. Any arrears of Credit you get then also stops. But you can still get Pension Credit will not affect your Housing Benefit or these benefits if you will have to pay Social Care Council Tax Benefit. Services back, for instance if you are waiting to sell your house. If you don’t already get Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit you can ask the Pension Service to take a claim If your circumstances change for these at the same time as your Pension Credit. If you are 65 or over and you get any Pension Credit, Free Benefit Check the Pension Service may tell you that for a fixed period, called an assessed income period, you do not need to If you would like us to check if you are entitled to report any changes to your pensions or savings, unless Pension Credit before you claim you can ring us on they go down, which means you can get more Pension 0845 053 0013 or use the coupon on page 15. Credit. This fixed period is usually 5 years. At the end of this period your Pension Credit may be reviewed or, if you are 75 or over, it could be extended indefinitely.

You should still tell the Pension Service about other changes in your circumstances, for example if you change your address.

12 13 ( P T L i F I P N S M c

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