Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to one, or both parts of pension credit. The two parts of pension credit are guarante credit and savings credit.
To qualify for guarantee credit:
- You must live in Great Britain
- You or your partner must have reached pension credit qualifying age. This is the same as the state pension age for women - around 62 & 6 months in April 2015. It will keep gradually increasing until reaching 66 in 2020.
To qualify for the extra savings credit:
- You or your partner must be 65 or over.
- You're treated as partners if you live with your husband, wife or partner. You don't have to be married or in a civil partnership.
While pension credit is for those with low incomes, you may be eligible even if you have tens of thousands of pounds in savings.
Say you're single and earn no salary or private pension and just get the full basic state pension, you'd be entitled to some pension credit if you have up to 50,000 in savings.
If you're a couple receiving the £180.90 per week basic pension, you could get some pension credit with up to £62,000 in savings.
Quick questions
I'm moving abroad, can I still get pension credit?
Unfortunately not. If you move abroad permanently the rules state that you can't get pension credit. You must live in Great Britain in order to get it.
Can I apply for pension credit if I'm a foreign national living in Great Britain?
When you apply, you must be living in Great Britain. You must not be subject to immigration control that is, there must be no restrictions which would stop you receiving financial help from the Government. You will also need to satisfy the Habitual Residence Test.