Apply for State Pension and query about mixed age couple

Spicedpumpkin

We are a mixed age couple.

My older partner has had a letter though regarding applying for his state pension, he will be 66 in a few months.

 

He is on IS, SDP, CA, HB and PIP both standard rates

I am in the CB ESA  support group and have DLA high care and low mob

When he follows the online information about the SP will that just come into play when he turns 66?  And the IS and CA , HB stop ?

We will be working out the best thing to do about going forward as a mixed age couple before he turns 66 and doing some benefit checks with AgeUk and some other places, as we are aware that sometimes it's not the best thing to have UC as a mixed age couple BUT sadly our rent is nearly £300 a week (april it will rise no doubt, the LHA does not cover all of it) in London which may influence how we proceed. I just want to get some figures sorted out first like his pension amount and also the new April rises in benefits etc.

IF we have to apply for UC if the calculations work out best for us, would we get transitional protection as such or not as we have chosen to apply for it? 

Also I assume the SDP stops as well if we have UC ?

Many thanks

peteuk

Transition protection is only for those who migrate, hence the adverts prior to this saying you may be better off with UC ( because once you apply your TC stops and you cant go back) 

Equally I dont think you can apply for UC once at pensionable age, unless a mixed couple.  Having read an example Im lost.   Not sure if as a mixed aged couple you claim UC or PC.  Hopefully someone more knowledgable can answer that one.

Spicedpumpkin

peteuk said:

Transition protection is only for those who migrate, hence the adverts prior to this saying you may be better off with UC ( because once you apply your TC stops and you cant go back) 

Equally I dont think you can apply for UC once at pensionable age, unless a mixed couple.  Having read an example Im lost.   Not sure if as a mixed aged couple you claim UC or PC.  Hopefully someone more knowledgable can answer that one.

I wasn't sure about the TP 

We are a mixed age couple I am only 54. My partner will be 66 in a few months.

I will check back to see if anyone else responds as well.....thanks for your input

Spoonie_Turtle

Age UK should hopefully be able to give good advice.

I will say though, do NOT under any circumstances claim UC yet unless you have been explicitly advised to by someone who definitely knows what they're doing and can explain exactly why there is no other route for you to go down.  As already mentioned there are no premiums on UC, so if you claim that without needing to then you'll lose any and all premiums until you turn pension age yourself for you both to be able to claim Pension Credit.

Transitional Protection for UC only applies to people asked by the government to apply for UC to replace their existing benefits.  A change of circumstances like yours does not count, so there would be no protection.

This document seems to suggest that if you could apply for income-based ESA topup (if your ESA is the old-style contributions-based, i.e. claimed before 2017~2018ish) - and presumably your partner would have to end his IS claim - then you could still retain HB?  I'm not sure how the legacy benefits work but it's definitely something to explore and see if there's any way of staying on HB instead of having to claim UC.  I don't think it would allow a Pension Credit claim though. https://www.housingsystems.co.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Briefings/2022/MAC%20May%202022.pdf

If you do have to claim UC, you will automatically have LCWRA (from being in the Support Group of ESA) and he will automatically have LCW due to being pension age and receiving standard rate daily living PIP, so no worries for either of you about being made to look for work!

[Btw, not to make things more complicated and you didn't mention this but just in case: if you feel he should actually qualify for higher rate mobility then that needs to be pursued before he reaches pension age, as the mobility component cannot be increased once he turns 66.]

Sorry I can't be any specific help, just a lot of 'if's and 'maybe's.

HillStreetBlues

@Spoonie I get a broken link, not sure if it's just me.
OP further reading mixed age couples wit Entitle to https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/mixed-age-couples
It's the only bit of help I can give.

Spoonie_Turtle

Thanks for the heads up, yes that link is broken.  Here's the full Google result then, hoping that works better

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.housingsystems.co.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Briefings/2022/MAC%20May%202022.pdf?ver=fs-DuU1aAVEm8eg3qY5Hqg%3D%3D&ved=2ahUKEwjIsvKAj-2DAxXuQEEAHf_eCOAQFnoECCsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3EnXaCP-uKTVTJpB-dCin-

Spicedpumpkin

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Age UK should hopefully be able to give good advice.

I will say though, do NOT under any circumstances claim UC yet unless you have been explicitly advised to by someone who definitely knows what they're doing and can explain exactly why there is no other route for you to go down.  As already mentioned there are no premiums on UC, so if you claim that without needing to then you'll lose any and all premiums until you turn pension age yourself for you both to be able to claim Pension Credit.

Transitional Protection for UC only applies to people asked by the government to apply for UC to replace their existing benefits.  A change of circumstances like yours does not count, so there would be no protection.

This document seems to suggest that if you could apply for income-based ESA topup (if your ESA is the old-style contributions-based, i.e. claimed before 2017~2018ish) - and presumably your partner would have to end his IS claim - then you could still retain HB?  I'm not sure how the legacy benefits work but it's definitely something to explore and see if there's any way of staying on HB instead of having to claim UC.  I don't think it would allow a Pension Credit claim though. https://www.housingsystems.co.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Briefings/2022/MAC%20May%202022.pdf

If you do have to claim UC, you will automatically have LCWRA (from being in the Support Group of ESA) and he will automatically have LCW due to being pension age and receiving standard rate daily living PIP, so no worries for either of you about being made to look for work!

[Btw, not to make things more complicated and you didn't mention this but just in case: if you feel he should actually qualify for higher rate mobility then that needs to be pursued before he reaches pension age, as the mobility component cannot be increased once he turns 66.]

Sorry I can't be any specific help, just a lot of 'if's and 'maybe's.

Thanks very much for the info. I'm just going to bed but didn't want to ignore your comment, will read properly tomorrow. I appreciate your time and info

Spicedpumpkin

HillStreetBlues said:

@Spoonie I get a broken link, not sure if it's just me.
OP further reading mixed age couples wit Entitle to https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/mixed-age-couples
It's the only bit of help I can give.

Thanks for the link , appreciated

Spicedpumpkin

Spicedpumpkin said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Age UK should hopefully be able to give good advice.

I will say though, do NOT under any circumstances claim UC yet unless you have been explicitly advised to by someone who definitely knows what they're doing and can explain exactly why there is no other route for you to go down.  As already mentioned there are no premiums on UC, so if you claim that without needing to then you'll lose any and all premiums until you turn pension age yourself for you both to be able to claim Pension Credit.

Transitional Protection for UC only applies to people asked by the government to apply for UC to replace their existing benefits.  A change of circumstances like yours does not count, so there would be no protection.

This document seems to suggest that if you could apply for income-based ESA topup (if your ESA is the old-style contributions-based, i.e. claimed before 2017~2018ish) - and presumably your partner would have to end his IS claim - then you could still retain HB?  I'm not sure how the legacy benefits work but it's definitely something to explore and see if there's any way of staying on HB instead of having to claim UC.  I don't think it would allow a Pension Credit claim though. https://www.housingsystems.co.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Briefings/2022/MAC%20May%202022.pdf

If you do have to claim UC, you will automatically have LCWRA (from being in the Support Group of ESA) and he will automatically have LCW due to being pension age and receiving standard rate daily living PIP, so no worries for either of you about being made to look for work!

[Btw, not to make things more complicated and you didn't mention this but just in case: if you feel he should actually qualify for higher rate mobility then that needs to be pursued before he reaches pension age, as the mobility component cannot be increased once he turns 66.]

Sorry I can't be any specific help, just a lot of 'if's and 'maybe's.

Thanks very much for the info. I'm just going to bed but didn't want to ignore your comment, will read properly tomorrow. I appreciate your time and info

Thanks again

Yes looks as though I may need some specialist advice it seems a lot more complicated in mixed age couples to be honest.

So TP will not happen if we move over to UC ourselves,thanks for that

My ESA is CB from when they switched it over from Invalidity Benefit many years back

I don't know if you would know this, but the tenancy (its been passed from his dead Mum, and before that his Father) and HB claim is my older partners name with me just as a partner living there. It is only in his name as such. Would that effect the HB we claim.....we are a couple obviously and are claiming as such.

The PIP, we did a MR and it stayed the same and we have put in an appeal the other month so just a waiting game on that on.

I appreciate your input like you say there is a lot of ifs and maybes and more complicated than I had hoped for

Newcad

Just wondering if the SDP TE might still be a possibility here?

It would depend on if the SDP is with IS or HB of course, and then on the timing of the claim.

(Plus you don't really want to make a UC claim that includes a TE before the April uprating anyway, unless you can't avoid doing it).

The MAC rules are way too complicated for most to get to grips with the intricacies.

You need someone who is dealing with them frequently, which is most likely to be AgeUK.

Spicedpumpkin

Newcad said:

Just wondering if the SDP TE might still be a possibility here?

It would depend on if the SDP is with IS or HB of course, and then on the timing of the claim.

(Plus you don't really want to make a UC claim that includes a TE before the April uprating anyway, unless you can't avoid doing it).

The MAC rules are way too complicated for most to get to grips with the intricacies.

You need someone who is dealing with them frequently, which is most likely to be AgeUK.

Thanks for your response

When we got the SDP (kindly from info from poppy12345 and other posters) it was Income Support we dealt with when it was organized and paid.

His birthday is mid April when he will be 66 so we wont be doing anything quite yet, just gathering info and advice

It does seem rather complicated about the MAC and the best route to take, I had a read a bit today and I'm sure it stated if I was on IR ESA we could still remain on HB. 


About my initial question I assume I should still just apply for the SP for my partner as normal.....as that will happen whatever route we take

Appreciate the advice