Govt unveils restrictions to pension credit for couples

[BreevandercampLGJ]

www.moneymarketing.co.uk/govt-unveils-restrictions-to-pension-credit-for-couples/

Can someone please explain this in words of one syllables.

Couples where one person is under pension age, will have to claim Universal credit and not pension credit.

Sorry no idea, why this is in AIBU.

This is to stop the younger person from having no work requirements, and also to save the government money. As much as £7k per couple per year.

My DH is older than me, 8 years, is this across the board or for people on benefits.

They slipped this out at 7.22 last night, the fuckers.

There's not a bottomless pit of money. Reforms need to be made, and if one person is under pensionable age then why shouldn't they be expected to work?

It’s only relates to universal credit /pension credit. It’s nothing todo with state pension.

I not disputing that fact, and now I realise what it means, I am lucky enough not to be in this situation, but I deeply resent them slipping this out at 7.22pm yesterday.

Sorry that comment was to girls night in.

Only me who thinks what they did was disingenuous ?

@Girlsnightin
There's not a bottomless pit of money. Reforms need to be made, and if one person is under pensionable age then why shouldn't they be expected to work?

I agree

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/3479693-Changes-to-Pension-Credit

Im 23 years younger than DH In a lot of cases the younger spouse becomes the older spouses carer. This is the position i am in.

Using our age gap as an example i wouldnt be SPA until i am 67 as i was born in "73.

So DH would be classed as being of working age for Pension Credit purposes until he is 90 NINETY. And living on a lower rate until then.

Ive already seen nasty comments on Twitter like how its our own fault as we should stick to ppl our own age. Nice. hmm

Well i cant help who i fell for back in 1992 when this didnt even exist..

This is going to hit older people and their spouses carers very very hard and increase the pressure on the social care system. And Adult Social Services.

And only for new claimants? Bad enough on its own but people are already talking about a migration over like UC. People who have already been on PC for a while are already going to be 70 +

They want the younger spouse carers to be available for full time work? Then social care will have to step up because some of us wont be able to do both.
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HelenaDove Tue 15-Jan-19 14:20:53

DH has a mobility scooter. Which has to be maintained which costs money to do. And a shed to store it in which he pays a fee to the HA for.

Its not cold cuts in the fridge and sex every night for age gap couples despite what they may think.

i think it was disingenuous too. But they have been threatening it for a while.

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/15/benefit-rule-changes-could-cost-pensioners-in-uk-thousands-a-year-pension-credit

Thousands of poorer UK pensioners who have partners of working age could lose up to £7,000 a year in top-ups as a result of imminent rule changes that will require them to claim universal credit as a couple.

Changes slipped out on Monday night by the Department for Work and Pensions mean that from 15 May, new pensioners whose partners are younger than the state retirement age of 65 can no longer claim a means-tested top-up called pension credit.

Instead they will be forced to claim the much less generous universal credit alongside their younger partners.

The couple rate of universal credit is £114.81 a week compared with £255.25 for a couple receiving pension credit. This amounts to a potential loss of £7,320 a year.
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Age UK described the change as a “substantial stealth cut” and said it could have a devastating effect on the health and wellbeing of some older people and increase the numbers of pensioners in poverty.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director, said: “It is by no means unusual for one partner to be slightly older than the other within relationships and the bigger the age gap between them, the more long-lasting the adverse impact on them will be because of this proposed change.

“That’s why this government policy has been dubbed ‘the toy boy tax’ by some – but that’s not to trivialise the really serious impact it is likely to have on anyone unlucky enough to be subjected to it. For some, the impact will be truly devastating. The government should think again.”
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The scale of the potential losses faced by couples could put pressure on existing relationships, say experts, and may persuade them that they cannot afford to marry or move in together.

The average age gap for mixed-age couples is 2.6 years, meaning the cash loss incurred before the younger partner becomes old enough to claim pension credit could be £19,000. Where the gap is greater the potential total lost will be more.

Age UK said pensioners may find themselves in the “absurd position” of being financially better off if they split up and live apart from their partner.

A single person who claims the top-up is eligible for £167.25 a week in pension credit, meaning that in theory a pensioner will be better off staying “solo” for benefit purposes rather than claiming with a partner.

Gareth Morgan, a benefits expert, said a single person getting pension credit who forms a relationship with a person of working age would lose their entitlement to that benefit and would have to claim universal credit as a couple.

However, if they were to separate again, even if they remained living in the same home but as separate households, their total incomes would increase substantially. This is because a single person’s pension credit combined with a single person’s universal credit amounts to more than a couple’s universal credit payment.

“It would be surprising if the DWP didn’t have to make substantial numbers of assessments about the genuineness of relationship breakdowns,” said Morgan.

“It would be surprising if the DWP didn’t have to make substantial numbers of assessments about the genuineness of relationship breakdowns,” said Morgan.

Currently, people who reach retirement age and are eligible can claim pension credit regardless of the age of their partner. In future they will have to wait until their partner also reaches 65, although the state retirement age will be increased to 66 in October 2020.

Couples with one partner under state pension age who are already in receipt of pension credit will be unaffected. But they will be moved to the new system if their circumstances change, such as a change of address, or even if the pensioner partner goes abroad for longer than a month.

If a mixed-age couple claim universal credit, the pensioner partner will not be required to look for work as a condition, unlike working-age claimants. The government says the younger partner’s claimant conditions will be tailored to meet the couple’s circumstances.

The pension credit change has been in place since the Welfare Reform Act 2012, but ministers put off its introduction until universal credit was fully rolled out. Last month universal credit moved into every Jobcentre Plus area of the UK

""Coupleswith one partner under state pension age who are already in receipt of pension credit will be unaffected. But they will be moved to the new system if their circumstances change, such as a change of address, or even if the pensioner partner goes abroad for longer than a month"

Also disingenous as a move to sheltered housing could be needed as the older spouse becomes more infirm.

The shift to UC also means some pensioners will be paying the bedroom tax.

Jesus and I thought Brexit was a clusterfuck.

benefitsinthefuture.com/19000-benefits-cut-for-pensioners/

This is an old post of mine from another thread which explains life before PC.

HelenaDove Mon 30-Jan-17 01:16:25

Im a full time carer for my DH who had a heart attack 11 years ago. He became partially disabled due to this Im his full time carer. Hes now 66 Im now 43

In the years following he had many subsequent angina attacks which required trips to A and E I couldnt afford to go with him He was on IB back then and after rent and council tax were paid and other bills we had £40 a week left to live on. Which had to pay for food AND prescriptions. I couldnt afford to go with him because i couldnt have afforded a taxi back if he was admitted or to sit up at the hospital all night to pay for a bus fare i also couldnt afford. Carers are human We need sleep too.

However im perfectly aware that many health workers may have seen me as heartless so i made sure that all the paramedics who attended knew the reason why i couldnt go with him. It would have meant us going without food or possibly him going without one of his prescriptions. Pre ESA ppl on IB had to pay.

Plus Health
‏ @PlusHealth_info
1h1 hour ago

#WednesdayWisdom
Colder weather is on the way folks! If you're living on a low income or get the guarantee credit element of Pension Credit, you may be eligible for Warm Home Discount.
Apply through your energy supplier, do it soon as time is running out

@BreevandercampLGJ Oh it gets better

benefitsinthefuture.com/the-price-of-love-for-a-pensioner-is-52-44-a-week/

"The price of love for a pensioner is £52.44 a week.

by Gareth Morgan on January 16, 2019

At least, that’s what this government has decided it is.

Two can live as cheaply as one, as the old saying goes. That would be good news from May 15th. This government has decided that two can live much more cheaply than one.

A single person, over state pension age, and claiming Pension Credit, will qualify for £167.25 a week in benefits. That’s for day to day living costs without housing help.

If he, or she, forms a relationship with another, younger, him, or her, you might expect there to be some increase in their living costs as there are now two people involved.

The new rules don’t work like that. Because they move onto Universal Credit, they get the Universal Credit rate for a couple.

That’s £114.81 a week.

So the government’s new rules decide that a single older person needs more money, every week, to meet their needs, than the same single older person when they’re also supporting another younger person.

On that basis, you might expect that adding extra partners in a polygamous marriage would keep driving the amount of money needed down until they start paying the DWP. At least the rules don’t do that – and there are mixed age polygamous marriages rules in the new regulations.

Benefits rules have always given couples less than single people. That recognises the fact that people living together have some common expenses which reduce their total costs. Nobody seriously argues against that. I have yet to find anybody who would seriously argue for the idea that feeding, clothing and providing for another person will reduce your costs by almost 1/3.

If the younger person had been claiming Universal Credit for themselves, before becoming one of the couple, they would have qualified for £73.14 a week. The two people, living separately, would, without housing support, have received £240.39 altogether.

That makes the price of love, for the couple, £125.58 a week.

Isn’t romance wonderful"

"There is not a bottomless pit of money"

Well there seems to be a bottomless pit of money for tax credits to bump up the wages of childcare workers so affluent parents dont have to pay more for childcare!!

inews.co.uk/news/childcare-jobs-underpaid-education-epi-report/

HelenaDove Tue 05-Feb-19 00:06:04

mzolobajluk.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/pensioners-now-to-be-sanctioned/

Pensioners now effected by benefit sanctions.

Image result for pensioners poor

Universal Credit (UC) and mixed aged pensioners Part 1

Pensioners now to be sanctioned.

The new rule being implemented on 15th May of this year 2019 states that where one person is of state pension age and the other is still of working age the couple will not be allowed to claim Pension Credit and will instead be forced to claim Universal Credit, which is worth less.

The old rules stated that as soon as one person reached retirement age then their partner could be included on that Pension Credit claim. This means that the younger member of the couple is included within the Pension Credit claim because their partner is over the qualifying age.

Back in the beginning of 2012 it came to light that the Government was going to implement changes to the regulations for mixed-aged couples. Realizing what these devastating changes were going to mean to me personally I asked Steve Webb, then The Minister for Pensions, Eight questions. This is question Four, along with his answer and what it actually means for these couples.

Question 4: “There are no work related sanctions for people above the qualifying age for Pension Credit in the current system. If the younger partner is sanctioned, how is this going to affect the partner who has reached Pension Credit Age?”

Steve Webb: “Claimants who have reached the qualifying age for Pension Credit will not be subject to work-related requirements. Where one member of couple is subject to work-related requirements and receives a sanction then there UC award will be reduced by an amount equivalent to half of the UC standard Allowance.”
Implications of this change: Benefit rates from April 2019/20

In this policy area the Government said it would protect pensioners. However it appears they will not receive this protection if they have a younger partner because they will also be redefined as working age. This, I believe, is discriminatory as it treats pensioners with a current Full State Pension differently to those who have not been able to amass one.

The current Full State Pension if paid monthly at £559.86 or £129.20per week takes these couples above the couple’s Standard allowance in UC of £498.89 per month or £113.05per week. Therefore there is nothing to sanction, as sanctions can only be taken from their Standard Allowance.

Sanctions will apply only to those who are the poorest pensioners, whose State Pension is below the Universal Credit Standard Allowance. E.g. State Pension of £394.30per month or £91.00 per week is counted as income and deducted from the couples Standard Allowance, which gives them a Standard Allowance payable of £104.59per month or £24.13per week. Meaning that they can be sanctioned, as they are in receipt of partial payment of UC Standard Allowance.

Their Standard Allowance of £104.59per month or £24.11 can be sanctioned at 50% (see below) which reduces their income by £52.30per month, or £12.06 leaving them with a weekly total of £91. + £12.06 = £103.06 for both people to live on per week.

The person who has reached Pension Credit qualifying age, although having no claimant commitment of their own is directly affected by this ruling as they have not received a current Full State Pension of £129.20.

“Step 3: If necessary, adjust the amount produced by step 2 so that it does not exceed—

(a) the amount of the standard allowance applicable to the award; or

(b)in the case of a joint claim where a determination under section 26 or 27 of the Act applies only in relation to one claimant, half the amount of that standard allowance.”

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/regulation/110

“Sanctions reductions are applied after taking earnings and unearned income into account.

If there is insufficient Universal Credit remaining after this to take the full sanction amount, the sanction reduces the award to nil and is treated as having been made in full.

You will remain entitled to Universal Credit and will therefore maintain access to ‘passported’ benefits such as free prescriptions.”

www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-you/universal-credit-and-you-a#sanctions Ref 9.9 Reduction of sanctions from Universal Credit Updated 19th December 2018.

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HelenaDove Sat 23-Feb-19 00:22:18

www.ageuklondonblog.org.uk/2019/02/22/mixed-age-couples-universal-credit/

"Mixed messages, mixed-age couples and Universal Credit
February 22, 2019 Paul TreloarFinance, Pensions

Universal Credit has been prominent in the news lately, whether it’s the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd acknowledging that a rise in foodbank use may be linked to the highly troubled roll-out, or the much trailed announcement that a two-child limit will not be applied retrospectively. However, you could find yourself not having heard about another significant policy development, which will soon affect tens and potentially hundreds of thousands of older couples. On the evening of 14 January 2019, in a written ministerial statement given to the House of Commons at 7.20pm, and the day before the Brexit meaningful vote taking place, Pensions Minister Guy Opperman informed MPs that from 15 May 2019, mixed-age couples will both need to reach State Pension age in order to make a claim for Pension Credit. One cannot help arriving at a conclusion that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) were looking to bury something which they thought might generate some negative headlines

A mixed-age couple is, as the name suggests, one in which one partner has reached State Pension age, whereas the other partner has not. Currently, a couple in this situation are able to choose whether to claim Pension Credit or Universal Credit. From a financial perspective, the choice is usually very straightforward – the standard Pension Credit rate for a couple is more than £7,000 a year more than equivalent amount under Universal Credit.

Currently, there are around 115,000 mixed-age couples claiming Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, or both. These couples will not be affected by this change initially, due to savings provisions. However, any break in these claims, even for a single day, could see entitlement lost completely and needing to reclaim would mean they would need to claim Universal Credit instead.

Further, from 15 May 2019, all new claims will have to be for Universal Credit, with both partners in the mixed-age couple being required to submit an online claim and manage an online account.1 The older partner will not be required to undertake work-related activity but the younger partner will be subject to full conditionality unless their work coach agrees to a relaxation

Age UK has already been contacted by couples where the younger partner is providing care for the older partner and who are extremely concerned about both the financial loss and their ability to manage the work-seeking requirements whilst also maintaining care for their partner. Age UK has highlighted that this policy could produce the absurd situation where a single pensioner would be better off separating and living apart from their partner, due to the simple fact that Pension Credit for a single person pays more than Universal Credit does to a couple.

In response to this move, we’re aiming to undertake two interlocking activities. The first and most pressing is to try and highlight the change to couples who are potentially affected and encourage them to claim whilst they can. We know that underclaiming of Pension Credit is already a huge problem, with estimates of more than £3 billion not being paid each year. Anyone who does want to check whether they are entitled can use the Age UK benefit calculator which only takes about 10 minutes from start to finish.

Alongside this awareness raising, we’ll also be lobbying for the policy to be reversed entirely. We welcome Ms Rudd’s pledge to “tread cautiously,” when moving existing benefit claimants onto Universal Credit through its managed migration programme. However, given the well-publicised problems of implementation of Universal Credit already, it’s difficult to understand the motivation to suddenly and unexpectedly throw older mixed-age couples into the melting pot.

If the policy does go ahead, we’ll be pressing for consideration being given to higher personal allowances being payable for mixed-age couples, as already happens with the legacy benefits being replaced by Universal Credit. This would at least ameliorate some of the potential financial losses. And there’s a whole range of other more technical issues that do not appear to have been fully considered, which need clarification prior to implementation.

With State Pension age having now equalised between women and men, and then continuing to rise, to 66 years in 2020 and 67 years in 2028, it is inevitable that more and more couples are going to be affected by this change over time. The complete lack of public communications from DWP to date has worrying echoes of what happened with the WASPI women when pension ages were first increased and no-one wants to see a repeat of that situation.

To have your say on the #AgeGapTax, add your name to this Age UK petition.

Footnotes

1. Although note, due to Pension Credit and Housing Benefit for pensioners having up to 3-month’s backdating, the absolute last day for new claims is effectively 13 August 2019, provided the claimant can show they were entitled as of 14 May 2019"

Add message | Report | Message poster HelenaDove Sat 23-Feb-19 00:26:39

Paul Treloar
‏ @PaulieTandoori**

Can honestly say, this has been one of busiest and most stressy weeks at work I can remember in long time. This mixed age couple change for Universal Credit causing chaos already and it hasn't even started.
6:43 PM - 21 Feb 2019

Paul Treloar
‏ @PaulieTandoori**
15h15 hours ago

Working out how people will move from UC to PC, working out when people already on PC/HB will lose it and why, dealing with clients reaching 65 after May 15 and distressed to hear they're losing ££££'s. That kind of thing.
1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
Paul Treloar
‏ @PaulieTandoori**
14h14 hours ago

For eg, under UC, couples are treated as permanently separated after 6 months. If mixed age couple split after 15 May, older partner can't claim UC due to age but can't claim PC as need to be separated for 12 months to no longer be treated as couple.

i think this warrants posting twice

"For eg, under UC, couples are treated as permanently separated after 6 months. If mixed age couple split after 15 May, older partner can't claim UC due to age but can't claim PC as need to be separated for 12 months to no longer be treated as couple"