Understanding Pension Credit

Benefit Payment Dates - Christmas and New Year Payments

If your payment is due on 25, 26 or 27 December 2023 or 1 January 2024 you will still be paid by that date.

All benefits operate on different payment systems, but you will not receive your payment later than the day it would normally be due.

Pension Credit

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.

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, a pension, savings or own your own home. Even a small award of Pension Credit can provide access to a wide range of other benefits as shown in this short video. It only takes about 20 minutes to make a claim to Pension Credit.

Other help if you get Pension Credit

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

• Housing Benefit if you rent the property you live in
• Support for Mortgage Interest if you own the property you live in
• a free TV licence if you’re aged 75 or over
• help with NHS dental treatment, glasses and transport costs for hospital appointments
• help with your heating costs
• a discount on the Royal Mail redirection service if you’re moving house

Pension Credit and what you might get

You must live in Northern Ireland 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 this applies to you and you require further information and advice, you should contact an advice agency or your elective representative’s office.

If you have a partner

You must include your partner on your application. You’ll be eligible if you and your partner have both reached 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 assessed. If you have a partner, your income is calculated together.

Pension Credit tops up:

• your weekly income to £201.05 if you’re single
• your joint weekly income to £306.85 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 (for example, a personal pension, an occupational pension or a foreign state pension)
• earnings from employment and self-employment
• some 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 Payment
• Housing Benefit

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 Northern Ireland Pension Centre if your circumstances change.

What you'll get

Pension Credit tops up:

• your weekly income to £201.05 if you’re single
• your joint weekly income to £306.85 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 £76.40 a week if you get any of the following:

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

If you care for another person

You could get an extra £42.75 a week if:

• you get Carer’s Allowance
• you’ve claimed Carer’s Allowance but are not being paid because you already get another benefit paying a higher amount. This is known as underlying entitlement to Carer’s Allowance.

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

If you are responsible for a child or young people

You could get an extra £61.88 a week for each child or young person you’re responsible for. This is increased to £72.31 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 are 16 or over and under 20, they must be in (or accepted for):

• approved training that is not provided through a contract of employment
• a course of non-advanced education (for example, they’re studying for GCSEs or A levels)

If they are 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:

• £33.67 a week if they get DLA, PIP or ADP
• £104.86 a week if they’re blind or they get the highest rate care part of DLA or CDP, or the enhanced daily living part 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:

• rates relief
• Housing Benefit if you rent the property you live in
• Support for Mortgage Interest if you own the property you live in

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 £15.94 Savings Credit a week if you’re single. If you have a partner, you’ll get up to £17.84 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:

• get help with NHS costs, if you get the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit, such as prescriptions, dental treatment, glasses and transport costs for hospital appointments
• apply for a free TV licence if you’re aged 75 or over

Find out how much you could get

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

Contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre if you’re not sure whether you’re eligible for extra amounts.

When to apply

You can start your application up to four 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 for three months. This means you can get up to 3 months of Pension Credit in your first payment if you were eligible during that time.

You will 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 if you’re applying by phone or by post.

How to apply

For information about how to apply online, downloading an application form, asking for a form and applying by telephone, go to the link below:

• Applying for Pension Credit

How it's paid

'Direct payment' into an account is the Department for Communities' normal way of paying pensions and benefits. It is a safe, convenient and efficient payment method.

• Direct Payment and the different types available

Income and benefits

Your income may affect how much Pension Credit you can get. Find out more about how your income may affect Pension Credit, how Pension Credit is paid and how it might affect your other benefits, on the following page:

• Income, benefits and Pension Credit

SMS messages

When claiming Pension Credit you may receive text messages (SMS) from the Department for Communities (DfC). They will always be clearly marked as DfC and will never ask you to give, or click a link to give, personal information or financial details by message or email.

If you’re concerned or unsure about any text messages (SMS) you receive from DfC about Pension Credit you should contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre directly. If you suspect you have received a fraudulent message as a scam, contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre immediately.

• Further information is available at: scamwiseni

If your circumstances change

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 Northern Ireland 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.

Tell the Northern Ireland Pension Centre, Enquiry Line, if your circumstances change, so you continue to get the right amount of Pension Credit.

• Northern Ireland Pension Centre
• Pensions: report a change in your circumstances

Changes to Assessed Income Periods (AIPs)

An AIP is a period when you don’t 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 tells 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.

You can read about the Changes to Assessed Income Periods from April 2016 

If you're away from Northern Ireland

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

You must:

• be eligible for Pension Credit when you go away
• stay eligible for it while you’re away
• contact the Pension Service helpline to tell them you’re going away

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

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

You cannot apply for Pension Credit if you’re already outside Northern Ireland.

You cannot get Pension Credit if you’re moving away from Northern Ireland permanently.

Leaving Northern Ireland for medical treatment

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

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

If you disagree with a decision

If you disagree with the decision, you can ask for this to be looked at again. This is called asking for a ‘Mandatory Reconsideration’ and means the Pension Centre will look at the decision again. Your decision letter explains how you can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration.

You must ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration within one month of the decision letter.  If you are asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration after one month, you need to explain why.

The time limit for applying for a Mandatory Reconsideration can be extended in exceptional circumstances. For more information on these circumstances, contact the Pension Centre. 

You cannot appeal to the Appeals Service until you have had a Mandatory Reconsideration.

How to apply for a Mandatory Reconsideration

You can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration by contacting the Pension Centre:

• by phone
• by letter
• by filling in and returning an MR2(NI) request form

This is your opportunity to say why you think the decision is wrong. You must include any information that shows the wrong decision has been made. If you disagree with more than one part of the decision, say why you disagree with each part. If you send evidence:

• this needs to show why the decision was wrong

• only include evidence you have not already sent
• write your full name, date of birth and National Insurance number at the top of each piece of evidence
• send it to the Pension Centre

What happens next?

A decision maker will look at all the information they have about your claim.  Where possible it will not be the same person who made the original decision.  They may need to contact you for more information before they make the decision.  You’ll get a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice (MRN) telling you whether they’ve changed the decision. It’ll explain the reasons for that decision and the evidence it was based on.

Once you have received the MRN, if you are still unhappy with the decision, you can appeal to an Independent Appeal Tribunal. 

The case will be reviewed again before it goes to an Independent Appeal Tribunal. New or more evidence can be sent to support your appeal at this stage.

You will be written to if this review changes the decision. The letter will tell you what happens if you accept the new decision and what this means for your appeal to the Independent Tribunal.

Information on the appeals process is on the following page:  

• Appeal a benefits decision

How to complain about the service you get

If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service given you can make a complaint to the Department for Communities (DfC). You can contact DfC about any aspect of the service you’ve received. This will not affect your claim.

Further information is available on the Department for Communities complaints procedure

Benefit overpayments

There are circumstances when you may be paid too much benefit and you will be asked to repay this. To make a repayment contact Debt Management.

If you require further support, contact Debt Management as soon as possible to discuss an affordable repayment plan and other potential options.

Help and advice

For further information and advice on Pension Credit or help with making a claim contact:

• Northern Ireland Pension Centre
• Make the Call
• Advice NI
• Northern Ireland Housing Executive

More useful links

• The Common Travel Area and social security benefits