Charity urging people to claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit now

Age UK are calling on all pensioners with a low income and a non-pensioner partner to put in a claim or risk missing out on up to £7,000 a year.

The charity are urging people to check their eligibility for Pension Credit and Housing Benefit and put in a claim before the Government changes the rules on 15 May.

The change will see the right to claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit withdrawn from future claimants who happen to have a partner who hasn’t yet reached their own pension age, with potentially devastating consequences for all those affected.

The charity is warning that by slashing the benefits that couples needing to claim benefits in the future by as much as £7,000 a year, the new policy will place some pensioners in the position of being financially better off if they split up and live apart from their younger partner.

Once the change is implemented, the older partner could be eligible for significantly more money by claiming Pension Credit as a single person than if the pair of them claim Universal Credit as a couple.

Age UK have said that although, in theory, this change will not impact on existing claimants they are warning if a so-called ‘mixed-age couple’ temporarily loses their eligibility for these benefits because of a change in their personal or financial circumstances, from May they will unable to regain it and will be thrown back onto the Universal Credit regime, the problems of which are well documented.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “It’s not at all unusual for one partner to be older than the other so lots of older couples on low incomes could be affected by this policy change, even though many of them may not know it yet.

“That’s why we’re urging any pension who thinks there is even the slightest chance that they could be entitled to Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit to put in a claim now rather than wait until May – it could give them as much as £7,000 more to spend every year until the younger partner becomes a pensioner.

“We are really worried that this mean-spirited policy change, which came out very quietly in an apparent effort to bury bad news, will devastate the incomes of some of our least well off older people.

“We also know that these particular couples include some where the younger partner is caring for the older one, who in the future could face much greater financial pressures because they will have to rely on working age benefits – flying in the face of the Government’s declared policy of supporting families to care. For this and other reasons we are urging the Government to reverse its decision and keep things as they are.”

Age UK is urging anyone who may be entitled to claim benefits to call Age UK Advice free of charge on 0800 169 65 65, visit www.ageuk.org.uk/money or contact their local Age UK for further information and advice.

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