In this article, the staff at Nomenial will provide a pension credit guide and explain what ‘Pension credits’ are, who is eligible for them, and how to apply…

Pension Credits explained

Pension credits are a goverment benefit which give you extra money in order to help you with the cost of living. They are applicable if you are over the state pension and if you are also on a low income.

Pension credit can also help you with other things asides from care such as housing costs. It is important to remember that pension credits are seperate to the state pension that you receive from the government.

You can still be eligible for pension credits even if you have other sources of income, such as savings, or another source of income.

Types of Pension credit

There are two types of pension credit. These are:

Savings credit

Guarantee credit

With regards to the savings credit, the only people who are eligible to claim this are people who reached the state pension age before 6th april 2016. These individuals may claim savings credit as part of pension credit.

However, people who reached State Pension age before the 6th april 2016 are still elibible to claim the Guarantee part of the Pension Credit.

So how much Pension Credit am I eligible for?

That will depend on whether it is Guarantee credit or Savings credit:

Savings credit:

The amount of money that you may receive in the form of Savings Credit can be up to the quantity of:

₤13.97 for a person who is single

₤15.62 for people who are married or in a civil partnership

Guarantee:

Guarantee Credit will increase your weekly income, so that it reaches a guaranteed quantity of ₤173.75 per week if you are single. Your weekly income reaches a guaranteed quantity of ₤265.20 if you are married or in a civil partnership.

Other circumstances in which you can receive more Pension Credit

You may also be entitled to more money if any of the following circumstances apply to you:

• You suffer from a disability
• You have responsibilities of care for another person
• You are responsible for paying certain housing costs, such as interest payments and/or mortgages

Claiming Pension Credit:

Remember that as mentioned before, you must have reached state pension age before 6th april 2016 to claim Savings Credit, and you must have reached Pension Credit qualifying age in order to claim Guarantee Credit.

Nevetherless, bear in mind that you can claim Pension Credit irrespective of whether you are still working or you are retired, as long as you fullfil the criteria mentioned above.

How to apply for Pension Credit:

In order to apply for pension credit, you have to call the Pension Service of the UK Government.

Final Thoughts..

Nomenial seeks to keep you abreast of all of the available information out there regarding care options. It is important to understand what help – if any -you are entitled to from the government if you are in need of care, To that end, we hope that this article has been useful. Contact Nomenial today in order to find out more about your care options and how we may be able to help you.

For more information, see: https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit