Am I entitled to Pension Credit?
To find out if you might be entitled to Pension Credit, you need to add up your weekly net income (after deductions) and savings.
Your income
We only count certain types of income when we work out your Pension Credit. These types include:
- pensions (including State Pension, a work pension or a personal pension, Financial Assistance Scheme payments or Pension Protection Fund payments)
- certain benefits, (for example, Carer's Allowance)
- earnings from a job
You can find out more about Carer's Allowance on the Directgov website.
Types of income that are not counted include:
- Attendance Allowance. Find out more about Attendance Allowance on the Directgov website
- Disability Living Allowance. Find out more about Disability Living Allowance on the Directgov website
- Housing Benefit. Find out more about Housing Benefit on the DWP website
- Council Tax Benefit. Find out more about Council Tax Benefit on the DWP website
Your savings
When working out the amount of Pension Credit you might get, we don't need to know about any interest or dividends you get from your savings. Instead, we look at the amount of savings you have and count £1 a week as income for every £500 or part of £500 over £6,000. (This figure is over £10,000 if you live permanently in a care home).
The savings and investments we take into account include:
- Money in a bank, building society or post office account
- Any savings you or your partner keep at home
- National Savings Certificates and Premium Bonds
- Investments like ISAs and PEPs
- Shares or unit trusts
- Income bonds, capital bonds or granny bonds
- Property and land (but not including the place where you normally live)
Remember
Living with your grown up family does not mean that you cannot get Pension Credit. We look at your income – not theirs.
Also, owning your own home does not mean that you cannot apply.
Even if we only award you a small amount it may mean that you can get help with other things such as Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
The Pension Service can now help you apply for Pension Credit, and claim Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit at the same time over the phone.
Finding out more
More information for people aged 60 to 64
More information for people aged 65 or over
To apply for Pension Credit call 0800 99 1234
Lines are open Monday to Friday between 8.00am - 8.00pm