Pension Credit

Pension Credit is an entitlement for people living in Northern Ireland who have reached the minimum qualifying age. This could mean extra money for you every week.

There are two parts to Pension Credit:

You may get either part on its own, or both parts depending on your circumstances.

 

You may qualify for Pension Credit if you have reached the minimum qualifying age or over. If you have reached the qualifying age or over but you have a partner under 60, you may still qualify. We use "partner" to mean a person you are living with as if you are married to them, or civil partner or a person you are living with as if you are civil partners.

If you apply for Pension Credit and are eligible, you may receive a payment backdated for up to 3 months from the day you were first entitled to the date you first applied.

To apply for Pension Credit you must be within four months of reaching the qualifying age. It does not matter if your partner is aged under 60.

From 2010 the age from which you can get Pension Credit will gradually increase. This will be in line with the State Pension age becoming 65 for women as well as men by 2020.

Pension Credit is paid by direct payment into an account

We will tell you when the first payment will be made, and how much it is for. After that, you can check with the bank, building society or post office to find out how much is paid into the account.

We will tell you if there is a change in the amount of money you are entitled to. Get in touch with the Pension Service if you think you have not been paid the right money.

As long as the conditions are satisfied

 

The guarantee credit can top up your weekly income to a minimum level set by the Government. You may be able to get a guarantee credit if the money you already have coming in is less than:

You may still be able to get a guarantee credit if the money you or your partner already have coming in is more than these amounts. For example if you or your partner are:

When working out guarantee credit we look at the money you have coming in. We count things like your State Pension and any other pension you get, for example, a pension from an employer. But we ignore some other income, for example, we do not count Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Housing Benefit Rent / Rates.

We look at the amount of savings you have and count £1 in every £500 or part of £500 over £10,000. (This is £10,000 if you live permanently in a care home).

 

The savings credit rewards people age 65 or over (and couples where one member is 65 or over) who have modest income or savings. Income and savings that can count towards a savings credit include:

When working out the savings credit we look at money you already have coming in each week over a certain level. You can get 60p for each £1 of income you have over that level. The level is:

The maximum amount of savings credit is £20.52 per week if you are single or £27.09 a week if you have a partner.

We reduce your savings credit by 40p for each £1 of income you have over the guarantee credit level. This level is at least £132.60 a week if you are single or £202.40 if you have a partner.

You can probably get a savings credit if your income is between:

You may still be able to get a savings credit if the money you have coming in is higher than these amounts if, for example, you are:

 

If you are entitled to the guarantee credit or guarantee and savings credit you may be passported to full Housing Benefit (Rent / Rates) subject to other people who live with you. If you only get the savings credit, you will not be guaranteed full Housing Benefit (Rent / Rates). In either case you will need to complete a Housing Benefit application form. You can do this by telephone with the Pension Service at the same time as you make your application for Pension Credit.

Although the Northern Ireland Housing Executive / Land & Property Services (Rating) will take any savings credit in payment into account in their assessment, you will still have the advantage of your Pension Credit gain.

In addition, the Pension Service will collect and pass on information to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive / Land & Property Services (Rating) and, in savings credit only cases, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive / Land & Property Services (Rating) will be required to use the Pension Service's assessment of your income and capital. This will reduce the amount of information that you have to provide to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive / Land & Property Services (Rating)

For more information we have a Pension Credit Questions and Answers page.