Pension and care home fees

dogoff

My uncle took early retirement and redundancy from the coal industry when he was 55, he is now 67. Unfortunately his health has rapidly deteriorated over the last 2 years due to Alzheimers. My aunty is struggling to cope, doctors have advised her to put my uncle into full time care, he is becoming violent. She has taken financial advice. She was told my uncle's pension (her husband) would be taken away to pay for the full time care. This would leave her with a very low state pension as she has no pension arrangements of her own and she hasn't worked enough to have made significant contributions to the state pension.
Does anybody know of any options available ? Surely she is entitled to some or all of her husband's pension ?

Thanks

Bossyboots

Does she get any state pension based on her husband's contributions?

What about pension credit?

She should also get a discount on her council tax and council tax benefit (the latter subject to means testing).

As far as I am aware the husband's pension is taken towards care home costs but the dwp website is not working at the moment so I can't check the whys and wherefores.

sce37

I work for the Pension Service.
If your uncle goes into residential care both he and his wife will be treated separately for Pension Credit purposes. This means that if your aunt is on a low state pension it would be made up to the minimum guarantee level of £109.45 as she is assessed separately.
What assets are there ie capital. Is it in your uncle's name or joint. This could also be relevant to the level of pension credit payable.
Remember also if your aunt has pension credit paid to meet the above minimum guarantee level then she could be entitled to full council tax/housing benefit. If income is above that level then it would be tapered.
If you want to pm me with precise info on income, capital, occupational pension for her, if any, I can give you an 'indication' on what top up she might get.

Ted_Hutchinson

It may be worth your while putting her details into the calculator at ENTITLEDTO

sce37

Also need to know if she is over 65 (savings credit may also apply).