Pension Credit

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1. Overview

Pension Credit gives you extra money to help with your living costs if you’re over State Pension age and on a low income. Pension Credit can also help with housing costs such as ground rent or service charges.

This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg) and easy read format.

You might get extra help if you’re a carer, severely disabled, or responsible for a child or young person.

Pension Credit is separate from your State Pension.

You can get Pension Credit even if you have other income, savings or own your own home.

This guide covers Pension Credit in England, Scotland and Wales. Find out about Pension Credit in Northern Ireland.

Other help if you get Pension Credit

If you get Pension Credit you can also get other help, such as:

2. Eligibility

You must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached State Pension age to qualify for Pension Credit.

Find out about Pension Credit in Northern Ireland.

If you’re from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you and your family usually also need settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to get Pension Credit. The deadline to apply to the scheme was 30 June 2021 for most people, but you might still be able to apply. Check if you can still apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

If you have a partner

You must include your partner on your application.

You’ll be eligible if either:

  • you and your partner have both reached State Pension age
  • one of you is getting Housing Benefit for people over State Pension age

A partner is either:

  • your husband, wife or civil partner - if you live with them
  • someone you live with as a couple, without being married or in a civil partnership

Your income

When you apply for Pension Credit your income is calculated. If you have a partner, your income is calculated together.

Pension Credit tops up:

  • your weekly income to £218.15 if you’re single
  • your joint weekly income to £332.95 if you have a partner

If your income is higher, you might still be eligible for Pension Credit if you have a disability, you care for someone, you have savings or you have housing costs.

What counts as income

Your income includes:

  • State Pension
  • other pensions
  • earnings from employment and self-employment
  • most social security benefits, for example Carer’s Allowance

What does not count as income

Not all benefits are counted as income. For example, the following are not counted:

  • Adult Disability Payment
  • Attendance Allowance
  • Christmas Bonus
  • Child Benefit
  • Disability Living Allowance
  • Personal Independence Payment
  • social fund payments like Winter Fuel Allowance
  • Housing Benefit
  • Council Tax Reduction

If you’ve deferred your pension

If you’re entitled to a personal or workplace pension and you have not claimed it yet, the amount you’d expect to get still counts as income.

If you’ve deferred your State Pension, the amount of State Pension you would get is counted as income.

You cannot build up extra amounts for deferring your State Pension if you or your partner are getting Pension Credit.

Your savings and investments

If you have £10,000 or less in savings and investments this will not affect your Pension Credit.

If you have more than £10,000, every £500 over £10,000 counts as £1 income a week. For example, if you have £11,000 in savings, this counts as £2 income a week.

Contact the Pension Service helpline if your circumstances change.

If you’re away from Great Britain

You can continue to get Pension Credit if you’re away from Great Britain for 4 weeks or less - for example, on a holiday.

You must:

You can get Pension Credit for up to 4 more weeks if:

  • you’re away from Great Britain because of the death of a close relative
  • a close relative dies while you’re away and you cannot reasonably return to the UK

You cannot apply for Pension Credit if you’re already outside Great Britain.

You cannot get Pension Credit if you’re moving away from Great Britain permanently.

Leaving Great Britain for medical treatment

You can continue to get Pension Credit for up to 26 weeks if:

  • you’ve left Great Britain for medical treatment
  • you’ve left Great Britain for a period of recovery that’s been approved by a medical professional (also known as ‘approved convalescence’)
  • your partner or child is leaving Great Britain for medical treatment or ‘approved convalescence’ and you’re going with them

3. What you'll get

Pension Credit tops up:

  • your weekly income to £218.15 if you’re single
  • your joint weekly income to £332.95 if you have a partner

You may get extra amounts if you have other responsibilities and costs.

The top up and extra amounts are known as ‘Guarantee Credit’.

If you have a severe disability

You could get an extra £81.50 a week if you get any of the following:

  • Attendance Allowance
  • the middle or highest rate from the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
  • the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
  • Armed Forces Independence Payment
  • the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment (ADP) at the standard or enhanced rate

If you care for another adult

You could get an extra £45.60 a week if:

  • you get Carer’s Allowance
  • you get Carer Support Payment
  • you’ve claimed Carer’s Allowance but are not being paid because you already get another benefit paying a higher amount

If you and your partner have both claimed or are getting Carer’s Allowance, you can both get this extra amount.

If you’re responsible for children or young people

You could get an extra £66.29 a week for each child or young person you’re responsible for. This is increased to £76.79 a week for the first child if they were born before 6 April 2017.

The child or young person must normally live with you and be under the age of 20.

If they’re 16 or over and under 20, they must be in (or accepted for):

  • approved training, such as Foundation Apprenticeships
  • a course of non-advanced education (for example, they’re studying for GCSEs or A levels)

If they’re in education, it must be for more than 12 hours a week on average.

If you get Tax Credits, you cannot get this extra amount of Pension Credit for caring for a child. But you might be eligible for Child Tax Credits.

If the child or young person is disabled

If the child or young person is disabled, you could also get an extra amount of either:

  • £35.93 a week if they get DLA, PIP or ADP
  • £112.21 a week if they’re blind or they get the highest rate care component of DLA or CDP, or the enhanced daily living component of PIP or ADP

If you have housing costs

You could get an extra amount to cover your housing costs, such as:

  • ground rent if your property is a leasehold
  • some service charges
  • charges for tents and site rents

The amount you could get depends on your housing costs.

If you get Pension Credit, you could also be eligible for:

If you have savings or a second pension

You could get the ‘Savings Credit’ part of Pension Credit if both of the following apply:

  • you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016
  • you saved some money for retirement, for example a personal or workplace pension

You’ll get up to £17.01 Savings Credit a week if you’re single. If you have a partner, you’ll get up to £19.04 a week.

You might still get some Savings Credit even if you do not get the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit.

Other help if you get Pension Credit

If you get Pension Credit you’ll automatically get cold weather payments.

You’ll also be eligible to:

NHS costs can include things such as prescriptions, dental treatment, glasses and transport costs for hospital appointments.

Find out how much you could get

Use the Pension Credit calculator to work out how much you might get.

Contact the Pension Service helpline if you’re not sure whether you’re eligible for extra amounts.

Pension Service helpline
Telephone: 0800 731 0469
Textphone: 0800 169 0133
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 731 0469
British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service if you’re on a computer - find out how to use the service on mobile or tablet
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm (except public holidays)
Find out about call charges

How you’re paid

All benefits, pensions and allowances are usually paid into an account, for example a bank account.

4. How to claim

You can start your application up to 4 months before you reach State Pension age.

You can apply any time after you reach State Pension age but your application can only be backdated by 3 months. This means you can get up to 3 months of Pension Credit in your first payment if you were eligible during that time.

Information you’ll need

You’ll need the following information about you and your partner if you have one:

  • National Insurance number
  • information about any income, savings and investments you have
  • information about your income, savings and investments on the date you want to backdate your application to (usually 3 months ago or the date you reached State Pension age)

You’ll also need your bank account details. Depending on how you apply, you may also be asked for your bank or building society name, sort code and account number.

Apply online

You can use the online service if you have already applied for your State Pension.

Apply now

Apply by phone

A friend or family member can call for you if you cannot use the phone.

Pension Credit claim line
Telephone: 0800 99 1234
Textphone: 0800 169 0133
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 99 1234
British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service if you’re on a computer - find out how to use the service on mobile or tablet
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
Find out about call charges

Apply by post

To apply by post, print out and fill in the Pension Credit claim form or call the claim line to request a form.

Send the claim form to the Pension Service, or ask someone to do it for you.

The Pension Service 8
Post Handling Site B
Wolverhampton
WV99 1AN

Contact a voluntary organisation like Citizens Advice or Age UK if you need help with the form.

If you disagree with a decision

You can challenge a decision about your Pension Credit application. This is called asking for mandatory reconsideration.

5. Report a change of circumstances

You need to report changes to you and your partner’s personal and financial circumstances.

Your claim might be stopped or reduced if you do not report a change straight away. Some changes will increase the amount of Pension Credit you could get.

Changes to your personal circumstances

A change of personal circumstances can include:

  • moving to a new address
  • starting or stopping living with a partner
  • the death of a partner who is named on your claim
  • starting or stopping work
  • going into hospital or a care home
  • people moving in or out of your house
  • changing your name
  • switching your bank account
  • changes to your Post Office card account
  • leaving England, Scotland and Wales for any period (for example, going on holiday)
  • you start or stop looking after a child or young person under the age of 20
  • changes to your immigration status, if you’re not a British citizen

Changes to your financial circumstances

You also need to report if your income or expenses change. This can include changes to:

  • housing costs, for example ground rent or service charges
  • benefits that anyone living in your home gets - including getting a new benefit or a benefit being stopped
  • occupational or personal pensions - including if you start to get a new pension or take a lump sum out of your pension pot
  • other income, for example foreign pensions or Working Tax Credits
  • savings, investments or property

Call the Pension Credit helpline if you’re not sure if you need to report a change.

You could be taken to court or have to pay a penalty if you give wrong information or do not report a change in your circumstances.

How to report a change

Pension Service helpline
Telephone: 0800 731 0469
Textphone: 0800 169 0133
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 731 0469
British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service if you’re on a computer - find out how to use the service on mobile or tablet
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm (except public holidays)
Find out about call charges

You can also report by post. The address is on the letters you get about your Pension Credit.

Living with a partner under State Pension age

You will stop getting Pension Credit if you start living with a partner who is under State Pension age. You can start getting it again when your partner reaches State Pension age.

If you were living with a partner under State Pension age before 15 May 2019 and getting Pension Credit, you’ll keep getting it unless you stop being eligible. If this happens, you usually won’t be able to get Pension Credit again until you and your partner are both eligible.

If you cannot get Pension Credit, you might be entitled to Universal Credit instead, but you and your partner cannot get both at the same time. If one of you starts getting Universal Credit you’ll stop being eligible for Pension Credit.

If you have an Assessed Income Period (AIP)

An AIP is a period of time when you do not have to report changes to your pensions, savings or investments.

If you have an AIP you must still report all other changes to your personal circumstances.

Your Pension Credit award letter will tell you if you have an AIP. You may have one if you’re aged 75 or over and you started getting Pension Credit before 6 April 2016.

Your AIP will end if your household circumstances change, for example if you move into a care home or if you become a member of a couple.

You’ll get a letter saying your AIP has ended. From then on, you must report all changes to your circumstances, including changes to your pensions, savings or investments.

Call the Pension Service helpline if you’re not sure if you need to report a change.

If you’ve been paid too much

You may have to repay the money if you:

  • did not report a change straight away
  • gave wrong information
  • were overpaid by mistake

Find out how to repay the money you owe from benefit overpayment.