Do not qualify for Pension Credits

Jay_1987

Hi there,
I am posting on behalf of my Dad. He was born 03/02/54. He had 5 months extra added on before he got his old age pension due to change in retirement date, and only has an old age pension and no private pensions. He is getting £535 every 4 weeks pension at the moment, and he applied for pension credits and was told that it changed in May and he no longer qualified due to the fact he had to wait until July to get his pension. He was told that because my mum is younger than him that he no longer qualifies for pension credits, and the law changed in May. He tried to apply for universal credit but does not qualify for it. I feel it is ridiculous that he has been penalised due to the fact that if he got his pension at the right time he would have qualified for a pension top up but now can’t due to the change in rules. Do we have anyone here who is also married to younger and has suffered the same problem? It all seems terribly unfair.

Silvertabby

How old is your mum?  Does she still work?  Does she have any pension rights of her own? 

NedS

Your post would be better suited in the benefits forum as pension credit is a form of benefit (a credit payment for pensioners on low income) and nothing really to do with pensions.

Yes, the law changed and it would appear your Dad has lost out. If he has a spouse/partner below pension age, they must now claim Universal Credit as a couple until they both reach state pension age and their household income will be taken into account. Your Dad's pension income will be deducted pound for pound from any entitlement for UC, and any income his partner/wife has will also be taken into account. Your only course of action if they do not qualify for UC is to petition your local MP to push for a change in the law.

Jay_1987

Silvertabby said:

How old is your mum?  Does she still work?  Does she have any pension rights of her own? 

My Mum is 60. She had to retire due to ill health, so is in receipt of ESA. She has a private pension from her work of £400 p/m. 

Jay_1987

NedS said:

Your post would be better suited in the benefits forum as pension credit is a form of benefit (a credit payment for pensioners on low income) and nothing really to do with pensions.

Yes, the law changed and it would appear your Dad has lost out. If he has a spouse/partner below pension age, they must now claim Universal Credit as a couple until they both reach state pension age and their household income will be taken into account. Your Dad's pension income will be deducted pound for pound from any entitlement for UC, and any income his partner/wife has will also be taken into account. Your only course of action if they do not qualify for UC is to petition your local MP to push for a change in the law.

I wasn’t sure where to post, sorry.

On the benefits calculator it says they are not entitled to Universal credit. I am sure a lot of people of the same age would have found themselves in the same situation, but unfortunately we don’t know of any. It may need to be something brought up with a local MP. Thank you very much for your reply, and knowledge.

Silvertabby

Jay_1987 said:

Silvertabby said:

How old is your mum?  Does she still work?  Does she have any pension rights of her own? 

My Mum is 60. She had to retire due to ill health, so is in receipt of ESA. She has a private pension from her work of £400 p/m. 

Pension credit is currently £265 a week for a couple, but both your dad's State pension and your mum's ill health pension would be deducted £ for £.  So even if they qualified, regardless of the age difference, their pension income would cancel out most if not all of the pension credit.

I'm not sure if the ESA is added to the equation as well - hopefully someone else will pop up with that information for you.

whizzywoo

Jay_1987 said:

Hi there,
I am posting on behalf of my Dad. He was born 03/02/54. He had 5 months extra added on before he got his old age pension due to change in retirement date, and only has an old age pension and no private pensions. He is getting £535 every 4 weeks pension at the moment, and he applied for pension credits and was told that it changed in May and he no longer qualified due to the fact he had to wait until July to get his pension. He was told that because my mum is younger than him that he no longer qualifies for pension credits, and the law changed in May. He tried to apply for universal credit but does not qualify for it. I feel it is ridiculous that he has been penalised due to the fact that if he got his pension at the right time he would have qualified for a pension top up but now can’t due to the change in rules. Do we have anyone here who is also married to younger and has suffered the same problem? It all seems terribly unfair.

Your Dad qualified for his State Pension at the same time as myself.  My husband is younger than me but we did qualify for Pension Credit and your Dad could have done as well because his State Pension Age was before the 15/05/2019.  However there was a cut-off date for claims and this allowed a Mixed Age Couple to back date a claim by three months.
See this link https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/pension-credit#deadline-for-backdating-unclaimed-pension-credit-under-the-old-rules

I'm not sure he would have qualified because of your parents joint income but even if the Pension Guarantee had only been £1 per week it would have passported them to other benefits the main one being not having to pay any Council Tax.

The change in rules was quite widely publicised at the time and there were articles and discussions on here and in the news etc.
Basically your Dad would have needed to qualify in the few days after receiving his SRP and could have made the claim anytime in the following three months.

Did your Dad take any advice from Benefits Offices concerning a Pension Credit application?  Luckily I knew what was going to happen and had all my ducks in a row so that I could make a successful claim.

Pollycat

Jay_1987 said:

Hi there,
I am posting on behalf of my Dad. He was born 03/02/54. He had 5 months extra added on before he got his old age pension due to change in retirement date, and only has an old age pension and no private pensions. He is getting £535 every 4 weeks pension at the moment, and he applied for pension credits and was told that it changed in May and he no longer qualified due to the fact he had to wait until July to get his pension. He was told that because my mum is younger than him that he no longer qualifies for pension credits, and the law changed in May. He tried to apply for universal credit but does not qualify for it. I feel it is ridiculous that he has been penalised due to the fact that if he got his pension at the right time he would have qualified for a pension top up but now can’t due to the change in rules. Do we have anyone here who is also married to younger and has suffered the same problem? It all seems terribly unfair.

In fairness, your Dad did get his pension at the right time.

He was part of the state pension age increase from 65 to 66.

Lots of women were caught up in the state pension age increase from 60 to 65 (to equalise them with men) - but that's a different argument.

A friend of mine had to wait until age 66 to receive her state pension - but she still got her pension at the right time.

Your Dad reached state pension age on 6/5/2019 so would have been able to apply for Pension Credit as a couple even though your Mum wasn't of state pension age (the change in rules came into effect from 15th May 2019).

It's very unfortunate that your Dad (and Mum) missed out on applying for PC before the deadline.

xylophone

£535 every 4 weeks pension at the moment, 

This is £133.75 a week which is under a even a full basic (old rules) of £134.25 and well under a full New State Pension (£175.20).

Was he short on NI years?

Is he sure that he  is not eligible for a pension from an old occupational scheme/and private pension?

Did he obtain a state pension forecast before he retired?

If so, what exactly does it say?

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

whizzywoo

Jay_1987 said:

Hi there,
He was born 03/02/54....  and he applied for pension credits and was told that it changed in May and he no longer qualified due to the fact he had to wait until July to get his pension. 

I am just re-reading your original post.  Why did your Dad have to wait until July 2019 to get his Pension when his State Pension Age was 6th May 2019? 

I was born on the 12/01/1954 and my State Pension Age was also 6th May 2019.  My first payment of State Pension was on the 10th May 2019.  Granted I elected to receive mine weekly but even receiving it 4 weekly he should have received it before July 2019. 

He could have made a claim for Pension Credit any time during the period from 6th May May 2019 up to 14th August 2019/

Pollycat

whizzywoo said:

I am just re-reading your original post.  Why did your Dad have to wait until July 2019 to get his Pension when his State Pension Age was 6th May 2019? 

I was born on the 12/01/1954 and my State Pension Age was also 6th May 2019.  My first payment of State Pension was on the 10th May 2019.  Granted I elected to receive mine weekly but even receiving it 4 weekly he should have received it before July 2019. 

He could have made a claim for Pension Credit any time during the period from 6th May May 2019 up to 14th August 2019/

Could that be when he received his first state pension payment?