Pension Credit

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What you'll get

Pension Credit tops up:

  • your weekly income to £227.10 if you’re single
  • your joint weekly income to £346.60 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 £82.90 a week if you get any of the following:

  • Attendance Allowance
  • the middle or highest rate of 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
  • Pension Age Disability Payment
  • the middle or highest rate of the care component of Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance

If you care for another adult

You could get an extra £46.40 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 amount for each child or young person you’re responsible for who lives with you.

You’ll get £67.42 a week for each child or young person. This is increased to £78.10 a week for the first child if they were born before 6 April 2017.

You will get the extra amount until the 31 August after their:

  • 16th birthday
  • 19th birthday, if they’re in eligible education or training – for example, they’re studying for GCSEs, A levels, BTECs, Scottish Highers and SVQs or NVQs up to level 3

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

If the child or young person is disabled

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

You could get an extra £36.54 a week if the child or young person gets:

  • Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children - lowest or middle rate of the care component or any rate of the mobility component
  • Child Disability Payment - lowest or middle rate of the care component or any rate of the mobility component
  • Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance - lowest or middle rate of the care component or any rate of the mobility component
  • Personal Independence Payment (PIP) - standard rate of the daily living component or any rate of the mobility component
  • Adult Disability Payment - standard rate of the daily living component or any rate of the mobility component 

You could get an extra £114.12 a week if the child or young person gets:

  • Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children - highest rate of the care component
  • Child Disability Payment - highest rate of the care component
  • Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance - highest rate of the care component
  • Personal Independence Payment (PIP) - enhanced rate of the daily living component
  • Adult Disability Payment - enhanced rate of the daily living component

You might also be eligible if they’re blind or severely sight impaired.

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 £17.30 Savings Credit a week if you’re single. If you have a partner, you’ll get up to £19.36 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

You might be able to use the Pension Credit calculator to get an estimate of how much you could get.

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

Pension Service helpline
Telephone: 0800 99 1234
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 (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.

View a printable version of the whole guide

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