grants for a pensioner who owns home

Errata

There was a £24million advertising campaign across all media in 2003; it was pretty hard to miss and remain ignorant of Pension Credit entitlement.

rotoguys

Errata wrote: »

There was a £24million advertising campaign across all media in 2003; it was pretty hard to miss and remain ignorant of Pension Credit entitlement.

Maybe, but that was 9 years ago! At that time, even if I saw it, it would have meant nothing to me as I would not have been eligible due to age.

It's like reading or hearing about bus passes when you are in your 30's, and making a mental note that I can get one when I get to 60!

I see and read many things, those items that are of no use to me I ignore. I do not go round making notes about government projects in the hope that in 3 years time they may be relevant.

After doing some research, it wasn't called Pension Credit. It was Minimum Income Guarantee that became Pension Credit in 2003. You might as well have been talking about something to do with Income Support for all I knew.

If they spent £24m on advertising they didn't do such a good job.

AgeUK estimate that currently there are 4m people who are entitled to Pension Credit, yet 1.2m (one third) have yet to apply for it due to ignorance.

cheekyweegit

It's true, some Pensioners can be really well off, whilst the Pension Credit is £137.35 for a single person and £209.70 for a couple then you can have add ons to bump the basic figure up.

For example you can get an Extra Amount for Severe Disability (formerly Severe Disability Premium I believe), this adds up to £55,30 per week for a single person, and up to £110.60 for a couple.

Carers Premium - £31.00 this is for Underlying Entitlement to Carers Allowance i.e. one of the parties is entitled to claim carers allowance for looking after someone else (not necessarily another pensioner), but chooses not to claim the money but is still recognised as their carer (at least 35 hours per week care for the disabled person). This can also be claimed by partners looking after each other (double rate i.e. 2 x £31.00 = £62.00)

Savings credit - single person £20.52, couple - £27.08

Income is taken into account from all sources, including savings over £10,000 also with benefits such as the Carers Premium, Attendance Allowance, and DLA being disregarded.

Depending on your needs shall we say will depend on what the figure is the government say you need to live on.

For example, a single person £137.35 (lives on their own) would be the base rate. But if they received Attendance Allowance Low Rate £49.30 this would be added on. This would then entitle the person to an extra amount for severe disability £55.30 and if they were caring for say their disabled brother who is in receipt of DLA middle rate care, again the carers premium would be added of £31.00. Plus up to £20.52 for savings credit.

Thus the starting rate before any deductions is £137.35+£55.30+£31.00 =£223.65 (The attendance allowance is disregarded for income purposes as is DLA care and mobility). Remember to add £49.30 for the Attendance Allowance and up to £20.52 for savings credit making the maximum in this case £293.47 (could even be higher if it was high rate attendance allowance)

From this figure, state pension if applicable is disregarded, as is any private pensions and £1 for every £500 savings over £10k along with certain other benefits.

This does not include housing benefit, council tax benefit or help with mortgage interest payments or other passport benefits such as help with prescriptions / glasses / dental costs.

There are other qualifying conditions for not just pension (or guarantee credit as it's known for under 65's) but for the others but far too many to mention here.

Oh don't forget you will get the Winter Fuel Payment too.

But this link may help some of you for more information on Pension Credit:-

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Global/Age-Cymru/Information-and-Advice/FS48%20Pension%20Credit%20April%202011.pdf

Hope this helps and sorry about the lengthy reply, but my advice is to apply even if you have been turned down before, especially if you or your partner are in receipt of Attendance Allowance or DLA Middle / Higher Rate Care.

Have a read of the link for the qualifying conditions, if unsure ask.

PS if you're already in receipt of pension credit and started claiming AA/DLA middle / high rate care again you might be entitled to up to an extra £55,30 per week each as an Extra Amount for Severe Disability which if awarded will be back dated to the date of your claim for AA / DLA less any time you have spent in hospital / care home for 28 days within a 28 day linking period.

Right waffle over, bed beckons (as does toast, should I?)

rotoguys

margaretclare wrote: »

Thanks for the above, and it's true, all these bits and pieces do add up. DLA/AA are especially useful as they're non-taxable and non-means-testable. We've been told many times we *should be* getting pension credit, but because we each get pensions income individually it does add up to more than allowed. We even did the sums again fairly recently when DH started receiving lower rate AA, and we still don't qualify. Not that it bothers us, because we think we do pretty well anyway. It's just what people seem to think, people around us.

A few years ago now, after Pension Credit came in, DH was written to by the Pensions Service asking why he hadn't applied for pension credit and offering to send someone to help him to claim. This happened a couple of times and the final time they insisted on sending someone even though he said 'no need, we've done the sums and we know we don't qualify'. This lady came, looked at the piece of paper he'd written some figures on, and agreed with him. We didn't qualify even on his income and she hadn't even asked about mine!! She wasn't in the house 5 minutes but she did say that they were doing all this to try to make sure that no one who qualified was left out.

Thanks, yes it seems they did about 9 years ago. But the info I am now getting from AgeUK (forget the Pension Service - no one knows anything there - wasted my time phoning) is that that proactive action stopped a long time ago as has the number of visting staff from the Pension service.

So at the start of Pension Credit you would have been contacted, but since, that has dried up.
I would have thought that my wife at least would have been contacted when she started to receive her OAP.

It's not in the government's interest to make sure every potential claimant for benefits is contacted in this way. They expect and work on the basis that up to 1/3 of claimants never make a claim!

dodger1

rotoguys wrote: »

Oh yes it does. I have a form here from the Pension Service that says not

On Pension Credit I have been told that we are entitled to:
Basic £209.70
Disability Premiums £110.60
Carers Allowance Premiums £62.00
Housing Costs (£100,000 mortgage) £69.81


We were shafted, just look at what we should have been getting for the past 6 years!! Could you afford to lose that sort of money?

Yes it's on the internet, but only if you know about it and then start looking to find out more about it.

Don't understand your post, you say "Oh yes it does" but you then actually quote what I said, £209.70, the rest is added to your other benefits. Yes you get extra DLA for instance because you receive pension credit but it's the DLA that is increased and not the pension credit.

As far as the information is concerned how do you expect people to find out about benefits. It would be far too expensive for the government to write to every household in the country listing all the benefits available especially as they are constantly changing. When something goes wrong in our lives and we need help we simply look for help in many ways.

With modern technology we look at the government website, we ask at local council offices, we ask at the CAB, we ask on websites like this. Not knowing about a particular benefit doesn't stop you asking a general question about what is available for your circumstances. You had the opportunity to do this just the same as the rest of us, I'm sorry you've lost out but no you weren't shafted.

cheekyweegit

dodger1 wrote: »

Don't understand your post, you say "Oh yes it does" but you then actually quote what I said, £209.70, the rest is added to your other benefits. Yes you get extra DLA for instance because you receive pension credit but it's the DLA that is increased and not the pension credit.

This statement is Wrong! You do not get extra DLA or Attendance Allowance, these are fixed rate benefits, i.e. DLA is high, middle, low rate care, then the two rates of mobility, the higher which you can switch / give up and have a car instead and Attendance Allowance is either Low or High Rate.

These benefits including Pension Credit maybe a passport to other benefits though such as dental costs, prescriptions etc.

If in receipt of those benefits, you may be entitled to Pension Credit or even Extra Pension Credit if already in receipt of it.

dodger1

cheekyweegit wrote: »

This statement is Wrong! You do not get extra DLA or Attendance Allowance, these are fixed rate benefits, i.e. DLA is high, middle, low rate care, then the two rates of mobility, the higher which you can switch / give up and have a car instead and Attendance Allowance is either Low or High Rate.

These benefits including Pension Credit maybe a passport to other benefits though such as dental costs, prescriptions etc.

If in receipt of those benefits, you may be entitled to Pension Credit or even Extra Pension Credit if already in receipt of it.

My mother has received attendance allowance for some years, when she subsequently started to receive pension credit her AA payment was increased. When my brother and I discovered this, it didn't seem correct so we contacted both the pension credit people and the benefits office. They both confirmed that because she now received PC her AA did actually increase, which frankly seemed daft but there we go.

Her pension credit is paid into her bank and AA is paid into the PO completely separately. I did say DLA in my previous post but obviously should have said attendance allowance.

cheekyweegit

dodger1 wrote: »

My mother has received attendance allowance for some years, when she subsequently started to receive pension credit her AA payment was increased. When my brother and I discovered this, it didn't seem correct so we contacted both the pension credit people and the benefits office. They both confirmed that because she now received PC her AA did actually increase, which frankly seemed daft but there we go.

Her pension credit is paid into her bank and AA is paid into the PO completely separately. I did say DLA in my previous post but obviously should have said attendance allowance.

How long ago was this? Are you sure it wasn't her pension credit, or perhaps her needs were deemed to have changed and she was moved from the lower rate to the higher rate which is plausible.

Spendless

Dollardog wrote: »

Well this sounds pretty nasty to me, I'm just saying that not everyone is in a position to be able to afford to do repairs.
My central heating broke down about 4/5 years ago but I have not been able to afford to have it repaired, I have a hole in my kitchen ceiling where water came through when the hot water tank started leaking, a hole in the bathroom ceiling where I lost some slates and the rain came in, my hot water tap in the kitchen does not work, not that that matters anyway as there is no hot water anyway unless I put the immersion heater on, the house hasn't been decorated either inside or out for years, the window frames are all rotten and let the draught in, the list goes on.
Those that can afford to put money aside and do the repairs are lucky, because some of us, although wanting to do things, just haven't got the money

When that happened to me I was covered by my Buildings Insurance. The hole was repaired and all the kitchen ceiling re-plastered.

rotoguys

Spendless wrote: »

When that happened to me I was covered by my Buildings Insurance. The hole was repaired and all the kitchen ceiling re-plastered.

As long as it can be shown that the incident had nothing to do with the lack of maintenance on the property.