Pension Credit claimants have been urged to check up on their finances as they may be eligible for less than they think.
The DWP benefit tops up a person’s weekly income, up to £218.15 for single people and up to £332.95 for couple claimants.
When working out how much income you have and so how much you could get to top this up, one factor that counts towards your income is how much savings you have.
You can have up to £10,000 in savings and this will not count towards your income, but for each £500 in savings above this amount, this will count as £1 a week income.
This means if you have £15,000 in savings, this would count as £10 a week income, reducing your potential Pension Credit top up by £520 a year.
Guidance on the Government website states that these four elements count towards your income:
- State pension
- Other pensions income
- Earnings from employment and self-employment
- Some social security benefits, such as Carer’s Allowance.
However, these benefit payments are not considered part of your income:
- Pension Age Disability Payment
- Social fund payments like Winter Fuel Payment
- Housing Benefit
- Attendance Allowance
- Council tax reduction
- Disability Living Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment
- Christmas Bonus
- Adult Disability Payment
- Child Benefit.
If your income is above the Pension Credit income top-up, you may still be eligible for the benefit, as there are additional payments depending on your situation.
For example, you can get an extra £45.60 a week if you care for another adult and an additional £81.50 if you have a severe disability.
Claimants who are responsible for a child or young person can also get an extra £66.29 a week for each child, or £76.79 for the first child if they were born before April 6, 2017.
A typical Pension Credit claim is worth more than £2,900 a year in support. Claiming the benefit opens up access to other Government support, such as a free TV licence for over 75s and help with NHS costs.
The Government website has a calculator tool to work out how much Pension Credit you can claim.
The weekly income top-up is known as the ‘Guarantee Credit’ part of a person’s claim. There is a separate ‘Savings Credit’ element, which provides a payment if you have money saved up for your retirement, such as in a personal or workplace pension.
Single claimants can get an extra £17.01 a week while couples can get £19.04 a week. However, this is only available to older claimants, as you need to have reached state pension age before April 6, 2016.
