You must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached State Pension age to qualify for Pension Credit.
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
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
- the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment 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 Highers or Advanced Highers)
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 & 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.
