I wrote about pension credit recently and had the article published in FOCUS Magazine which is delivered to households across Gainford and Winston. I received some very positive feedback from my article so have published it here in the hope it is of benefit to the wider community.
Winter Fuel Payment
To qualify for this years winter fuel payment you had to have been entitled to pension credit on the 21st September 2024, you could request three months backdating of the benefit which meant that claims had to be made by the 21st December 2024.
If you think you missed out in 2024, make sure you do not miss out in 2025.
Please don’t miss out phone 0800 991234 or if you already get your state pension, the most efficient way to claim is online www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim.
Attendance Allowance
Attendance Allowance is a benefit that you can claim if you are physically or mentally disabled and need help with your personal care or supervision to keep safe. Attendance Allowance is not classed as taxable income and is not counted as income in the calculations for pension credit. It can passport you to other benefits.
If you are unable to claim pension credit because your spouse or partner is under state pension age if you get the high rate of AA then there is an extra allowance that can be included automatically in a claim for universal credit, if you pay rent a disability element can also be included in a claim for housing benefit.
Attendance Allowance is paid at a low rate of £72.65, this is typically for someone who has care needs through out the day, but does not need help during the night. An example would be someone who has dementia and needs someone to prompt them regularly during the day to keep them safe or someone who has arthritis and needs help with cutting up their meals, getting their medication out of the packets, and washing and showering or bathing. The higher rate of £108.55 is for someone who also needs help during the night and day. The lower rate can also be paid for someone who has night time needs but is fine during the day.
It is important to note that you do not need to be getting all of this help, it is whether you would be safer and have a better quality of life if you did.
Care does not have to be provided by professional carers, family and friends are just as good.
I meet a lot of couples that are greater than the sum of their parts, one may have memory problems and the other have a physical disability. One is prompted by the other to do the physical activities around the home and the other is kept safe and supervised by the other. As one lovely gentleman with Alzheimer’s smiled and told me his wife was the brains and he was the brawn. They both qualified for Attendance Allowance and I also helped them to claim carers allowance to get underlying entitlement to the carer premiums in pension credit.
There are no rules about how you have to spend either attendance allowance or pension credit, in the above case, the couple paid for a gardener and a cleaner with the money and concentrated on providing each other with personal care as they felt this was less intrusive.
Please note if you are getting attendance allowance and go into hospital, or a care home where the care is paid for or part paid for by the local authority you need to tell the department of work and pensions as benefit will stop after four weeks and will not restart until they are told that you have returned home or are funding your care yourself. If you fail to tell the DWP you will have to pay back the overpayment.
To claim Attendance Allowance you can do an online claim at www.gov.uk/attendance- allowance/how-to-claim or download a form from the internet at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/attendance-allowance-claim -form or you can call the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122, the DWP will then send you a form to complete.