Turning 66 & Starting State Pension... 29 September 2021 at 11:41AM in Over 50s MoneySaving 11 replies 2.3K views

PerfectChristmas

Hello all, hope you are well.

As of Friday my mum reaches state pension age. I think I've managed to sort everything for her as her carer but I'm not 100 percent sure if my information is correct or if there's anything else I need to do. I'll try and be as factual and unemotional as possible finances wise and I've worked it out for weekly amounts:

Mum owns her own home outright, no outstanding mortgage. She has a £1 premium bond and approx £500 in the bank (bills). There are no other savings.

I am mums live in carer (claiming carers allowance) as she is housebound and her medical conditions mean that she needs constant care during the day so she receives:

• Enhanced Daily Care PIP - 89.60

• Low Rate Mobility PIP - 23.70

This is due for reassessment between January and July 2022. Light touch reviews won't start until after the assessment. 

• She will receive a full state pension of £179.60 as of Friday.

• She receives my dad's occupational pension as he died 'in service' and this works out at £61.38.

That is the only income for her. From the calculators on the government website she is not eligible for pension credit of either type (but we've still applied just in case)


I understand that because she is 66 (and diabetic) she will still receive free prescriptions.
She will receive free eye tests because she is 66 (and diabetic and her father had glaucoma) but she's not eligible for money towards glasses/lenses.
She will have to pay for dental treatment 
She's not eligible for the NHS Low Income Scheme for help with the lenses/glasses or dental treatment.

Can anyone advise that the above is correct and if there's anything else that I need to consider/work/apply over the next few days? Thank you!

luvchocolate

That sounds right...she will also be eligible for £200 winter fuel allowance..although she may have just missed the date for entitlement this year 

PerfectChristmas

Thank you very much, I'll have a quick Google and see. Much appreciated. 

Savvy_Sue

The free prescriptions and eye tests should have started at 60 ...

blue.peter

Savvy_Sue said:

The free prescriptions and eye tests should have started at 60 ...

That's true in England, but I think that prescriptions are free for everyone in Wales and Scotland. I've no idea about eye tests outside England (or anything in NI). The OP didn't say where s/he lives.

PerfectChristmas

Thank you - we are in England and they did start at 60.

She was receiving Support Group ESA before along with her disability benefits so it was all covered. Now parts aren't which was why I was specifying certain parts of optician charges/dentists charges etc

Thank you all

Murphybear

PerfectChristmas said:

Hello all, hope you are well.

As of Friday my mum reaches state pension age. I think I've managed to sort everything for her as her carer but I'm not 100 percent sure if my information is correct or if there's anything else I need to do. I'll try and be as factual and unemotional as possible finances wise and I've worked it out for weekly amounts:

Mum owns her own home outright, no outstanding mortgage. She has a £1 premium bond and approx £500 in the bank (bills). There are no other savings.

I am mums live in carer (claiming carers allowance) as she is housebound and her medical conditions mean that she needs constant care during the day so she receives:

• Enhanced Daily Care PIP - 89.60

• Low Rate Mobility PIP - 23.70

This is due for reassessment between January and July 2022. Light touch reviews won't start until after the assessment. 

• She will receive a full state pension of £179.60 as of Friday.

• She receives my dad's occupational pension as he died 'in service' and this works out at £61.38.

That is the only income for her. From the calculators on the government website she is not eligible for pension credit of either type (but we've still applied just in case)


I understand that because she is 66 (and diabetic) she will still receive free prescriptions.
She will receive free eye tests because she is 66 (and diabetic and her father had glaucoma) but she's not eligible for money towards glasses/lenses.
She will have to pay for dental treatment 
She's not eligible for the NHS Low Income Scheme for help with the lenses/glasses or dental treatment.

Can anyone advise that the above is correct and if there's anything else that I need to consider/work/apply over the next few days? Thank you!

Have you checked her eligibility for help with glasses?  I thought I wouldn’t be eligible but I applied and was pleased to see I did get help on the grounds of low income. I am also diabetic and my income is not much less than hers.  

Kim1965

Does her weekly income cover her outgoings? Any rent to pay? 

greyteam1959

Is she entitled to Attendance Allowance ??

quest4me2

And she could also apply for the Home Warm Front Grant from her energy supplier which this year goes to £150, as some suppliers do look at income, and consider those on PIP as being eligible, my dad's supplier does and he's in a similar situation money wise, SP and a private works pension. The only energy company he didn't get the grant from was bulb!

Also it is worth considering if your mum needs any household appliances replacing etc. that many energy companies have funds for those on low incomes.

PerfectChristmas

Thank you all, I have checked her eligibility for glasses yes, but she still does not get any help with them because of her income (H1 form or something similar?).

She has no rent to pay, she owns the house. Things are covered but they're a bit tight now as is the case for most

Thank you, she does get the warm homes discount due to her health conditions and she continued to this year because of her age/income.

Thank you for the heads up about the appliances too, mum doesn't have a cooker - just a toaster oven that has done the job but is a pain in the backside because it is so inconsistent with cooking times (because it's not sealed, steam leaks out the side) and  also it's so small (can't cook more than 1 thing at a time) so that would be a big help.


Rather confusingly (and typically after they'd closed the phonelines today!) she got an SMS from DWP (legitimate message as it's one she's had contact from before and it is a benefit she gets and has no links to press etc) saying 'thank you for returning your 'how your disability affects you form'. We've had no form to send back in the first place.

It's either an error or because it's her final PIP renewal before she goes onto the 10 year light touch 'assessments' I can only assume that they've cut out the form because realistically at her age things won't have gotten any better. It's annoying though if this is the case because it's been 7 years since she applied and things have gotten *worse* and that won't be affected if they've gone with her form/face to face from 2015. I will contact them in the morning and fingers crossed get to the bottom of it.

(ETA: we did receive a yearly update letter from them today that said that the amount has gone up by £3 in total)