Pension Credit is extra money paid on top of your State Pension.
A single person who applies for Pension Credit must be aged at least 60 or over and for couples, at least one of the partners must be aged at least 60 or over. The age you can get Pension Credit is slowly increasing to match the age women can claim their State Pension.
Pension Credit has two parts:
guarantee credit - guarantees older people with a minimum level of income; and
savings credit - rewards those over 65 for having savings, an extra pension or a higher state pension.
You may be able to claim one part or both parts, depending on your circumstances. Both are means tested benefits which means they are affected by the amount of income you have coming in. There is no maximum level on the amount of savings you can have.
Please note: Savings up to £10,000 are ignored and do not reduce the benefit that you can get. Savings over £10,000 will affect the amount of Pension Credit that you can get.
The amount of Pension Credit you can get is higher for certain people such as carers or severely disabled people. Pension Credit can also help with mortgages.
You can get an estimate of your Pension Credit entitlement by using the Pension Credit calculator, available on this page under ‘External links’.
For more information on Pension Credit, visit the Directgov website, available on this page under ‘External links’.