Guaranteed Pension Credit

astra948

My father passed away a few months ago.


Now my mother gets the full state pension via his contributions...she would not get the full amount just using her contributions.


As I understand it, if she doesn't have enough contributions, and didn't get the full amount via my dad's contributions, she would get the full amount via Guaranteed Pension Credit.


If she receives Guaranteed Pension Credit that would entitle her to other benefits i.e. when or if they start charging again for the tv licence for the over 75s it will still be free for those on Guaranteed Pension Credit.


My mother will have to pay for the tv licence even though she is over 75 as she doesn't get Guaranteed Pension Credit.


Can she somehow not have her pension paid via my dad's contribution and have it made up via Guaranteed Pension Credit.


She has no other income apart from her state pension.


Hope someone can help.

xylophone

Re GPC see

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs48_pension_credit_fcs.pdf

Does your mother meet the criteria for GPC?

astra948

I believe she does but won't get it because she already receives the full value from my dad's contributions.
I don't know how to explain it any other way

calcotti

The answer is simple. She cannot give up her State Pension entitlement in order to get Pension Credit instead.

How much is her state pension?

xylophone

She cannot give up her State Pension entitlement in order to get Pension Credit instead.

Indeed not, but the key lies (as implied by your question) by what the OP means by "a full state pension" and also whether there is any other benefit to which mother might be entitled which would increase her "applicable amount".

The Age UK link referenced gives a comprehensive explanation of GPC and could clarify matters for the OP.

Mojisola

astra948 wrote: »

She has no other income apart from her state pension.

Is that below £167.25?

astra948

She gets £167.25 I believe. I haven't actually seen any paperwork to confirm it.

calcotti

If her income is below £167.25 she will be entitled to a Pension Credit top up (unless she has capital over £10,000 which would reduce this figure). If it is more than this she will not be entitled to Pension Credit - unless she gets a disability benefit in which case the relevant figure would be £233.10 if a Severe Disability addition applies.

astra948

We understand that she is getting the maximum amount...we are not questioning that.


But if the money was made up from GPC and not my dad's state pension then she might get other benefits. She didn't even know and understand that her money was being made up from my dad's pension. She thought she would automatically get GPC


At the moment we feel she is disadvantaged by having to pay things like the tv licence when it becomes only free to those over 75 and on GPC.

Mojisola

astra948 wrote: »

But if the money was made up from GPC and not my dad's state pension then she might get other benefits. She didn't even know and understand that her money was being made up from my dad's pension. She thought she would automatically get GPC

At the moment we feel she is disadvantaged by having to pay things like the tv licence when it becomes only free to those over 75 and on GPC.

She is disadvantaged - if she was only pennies below the GPC rate, she would get the top-up to £167.25 plus all the other benefits.

Lanzarote1938

Mojisola wrote: »

She is disadvantaged - if she was only pennies below the GPC rate, she would get the top-up to £167.25 plus all the other benefits.

It has never seemed fair to me that just a few coppers can make such a huge difference.