Eligible for Pension Credit?

MsMoon

Scenario: I live in a care home & own a property worth 150k - is there any chance I can get pension credit?

poppy12345

Who lives in the property you own?

MsMoon

Property is empty - owner lives in care home.

poppy12345

Then that will be classed as capital. For every £500 over £10,000 there's a reduction of £1, which may mean there's no entitlement to PC.  https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

MsMoon

poppy12345 said:

Then that will be classed as capital. For every £500 over £10,000 there's a reduction of £1, which may mean there's no entitlement to PC.  https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

Ok thanks- maths isn't my strong point but I make that a reduction of approx £280 on 140K  Which I guess means no PC. Feel free to correct me if I've got my sums wrong!

poppy12345

Pension credit tops up your weekly income to £182.60 if single. This can increase if you're claiming a disability benefit but this may not apply to you as you live in a care home.

Therfore, you are correct, there's no entitlement to pension credit.

comeandgo

Why not sell the property?  Do you think the owner will get out of the care home?  Looking at your other threads I take it this is your dad?

marcia_

@MsMoon you think the financial situation would be any different in those circumstances? 

The same rules apply to everyone and only those who qualifies to claim 🙄

poppy12345

MsMoon said:

marcia_ said:

@MsMoon you think the financial situation would be any different in those circumstances? 

The same rules apply to everyone and only those who qualifies to claim 🙄

Well some people seem to get everything for nothing. I won't elaborate, I wouldn't want to offend those in their nice hotels...

Well he owns a property and just like everyone else, if you own a property that you don't live in, it's classed as capital and rightly so. Regardless of that, he may not be entitled to pension credit anyway, even if he didn't have a property. As has been mentioned, he could sell the property.

MsMoon

poppy12345 said:

MsMoon said:

marcia_ said:

@MsMoon you think the financial situation would be any different in those circumstances? 

The same rules apply to everyone and only those who qualifies to claim 🙄

Well some people seem to get everything for nothing. I won't elaborate, I wouldn't want to offend those in their nice hotels...

Well he owns a property and just like everyone else, if you own a property that you don't live in, it's classed as capital and rightly so. Regardless of that, he may not be entitled to pension credit anyway, even if he didn't have a property. As has been mentioned, he could sell the property.

The problem would be resolved if the government started prioritising paying for social care for those who had paid into the system for a lifetime - of course if someone has a property that is worth an extremely high amount, that is a different story but for the vast majority of people the net worth of their properties is modest.