Income support entitlement due to age?

Invalidation

I Just received a letter this morning stating I am reaching the age where I am no longer entitled to Income support and I should apply for pension credit.
Im 60 in June and have been disabled since 1993 I receive full incapacity benefit and income support plus DLA at the highest rates

Does this mean, if I come off Income support that I will Lose my Housing Benefit, Council Tax benefit and free prescriptions?

Is there anywhere I can call to speak to an impartial advisor (NOT the CAB my local one is useless) Or can anyone help.?
Thanks
Its also been pointed out in the letter that my partner could claim, as she is youger than me, would there be any worth in this or would Pension Credit be better

gorgeousgeorge

My partner and myself are just waiting for pension credits to come through, ( he is nearly 62, and I am 44) you will still get your housing/CTB, prescriptions etc etc paid

Whiteknight

Invalidation wrote: »

I Just received a letter this morning stating I am reaching the age where I am no longer entitled to Income support and I should apply for pension credit.
Im 60 in June and have been disabled since 1993 I receive full incapacity benefit and income support plus DLA at the highest rates

Does this mean, if I come off Income support that I will Lose my Housing Benefit, Council Tax benefit and free prescriptions?

Is there anywhere I can call to speak to an impartial advisor (NOT the CAB my local one is useless) Or can anyone help.?
Thanks
Its also been pointed out in the letter that my partner could claim, as she is youger than me, would there be any worth in this or would Pension Credit be better

If your 60th birthday is in June, and you have only just had the letter from Income Support I would hazard a guess that you will be able to claim Pension Credit from the 6th September 2010 (if you were born after 05/06/1950, if you were born before then it would be 06/07/2010)

Your Income Support should continue up until the date you are eligible for Pension Credit - unless something happens between now and then which stops the Income Support.

Your Housing/Council Tax Benefit could stop (I have seen some local authorities send out letters to people approaching the age that Income Support would end advising them that they would be liable to pay these bills) However I should point out that once Pension Credit is showing as being paid it is reinstated.

As to whether you should claim Pension Credit or have you partner claim Income Support (or similar) it would depend on what benefits she is getting at the moment and how old they are - she may need to be getting contributions paid towards her State Pension.

suelees1

The income will be the same whichever of you claims it's just that it's made up in a different way. As Whitenight says it might be better if your partner claims IS if she needs NICs towards her pension. However if she's claiming Carers Allowance this isn't relevant as she'll be credited anyway. If she's not getting CA but meets the conditions she should claim. This will increase your IS or Guarantee Pension Credit (GPC) but won't affect your HB


If you decide to claim GPC then you still get full HB, health costs etc as you would on IS. It's very similar to IS in most ways.

It should be a smooth transition but just make sure you let LA know what's going on so they can put a note on your file in case they're notified by the Jobcentre that your IS has stopped. As soon as your GPC is awarded then HB will be reinstated. The Pension SErvice should le them know but you can send in confirmation just in case there is any delay.

tiredredhead

Hi my mother is just going through this, it is not straightforward she too is disabled and has had a letter telling her that her income support stops as of the 6th May and her pension doesnt start until the 11th May (not paid until the 17th may) so for 5 days inclusive she is entitled to nothing, she is now worried how she will pay her rent and council tax as well as eat. There seems to be a problem with the transition from one to the other for disabled people.
I hope you have better luck. My mum filled in all forms as they were sent to her but its still not all sorted out. It has caused her to be very ill with stress. Has anyone heard of this gap in benefit before?

It almost as if she would have been better off if she werent entitled to a pension as i believe her income support would have just continued.

Invalidation

Many thanks for all the help.
I did call several agencies yesterday, some helped, some didnt.
There seems to be some disparity in what I was told though. I have been told my INCOME SUPPORT will be stopped. However my money is made up of Incapacity benefit and Income support. Even the Pension Credit people were confused.
The DSS stated that, although my IS will be stopped, my Incapacity benefit wont, and will continue to be paid untill I'm 65.
There is a lot of confusion

Whiteknight

tiredredhead wrote: »

Hi my mother is just going through this, it is not straightforward she too is disabled and has had a letter telling her that her income support stops as of the 6th May and her pension doesnt start until the 11th May (not paid until the 17th may) so for 5 days inclusive she is entitled to nothing, she is now worried how she will pay her rent and council tax as well as eat. There seems to be a problem with the transition from one to the other for disabled people.
I hope you have better luck. My mum filled in all forms as they were sent to her but its still not all sorted out. It has caused her to be very ill with stress. Has anyone heard of this gap in benefit before?

It almost as if she would have been better off if she werent entitled to a pension as i believe her income support would have just continued.

I have heard of this gap in benefit before as loads of people reaching State Pension Age in the past have had to wait for the Monday after their birthday before they would be paid a State Pension and it is only with the recent Pension Reform that certain people claiming State Pension could have a part week payment to bridge this gap.

Income Support would not have continued after her State Pension Age and you have not made it clear if she has just applied for her State Pension or Pension Credit. (She would have to claim her State Pension and depending on her circumstances may also be entitled to Pension Credit).

Going from Income Support to Pension Credit a person will be entitled from the day after the Income Support ends - when they get paid will depend on the pay day and cycle they are in but there would be no loss.