Changes to Pension Credit.

[HelenaDove]

From 15 May Pension Credit couple rate will only be paid if both are over 65

twitter.com/JosephineCumbo/status/1084920673296961536

www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-01-14/HCWS1249/

"Nicely rolled out with the appeasements by Rudd." I commented here and on other SM "I wonder what news they're burying under these apparent U-turn?"

Wow! I hadn't considered as I'm not in this position (but have friends it will affect) but yes this is affecting carers too.

Are they playing some weird fucked up game of "how many voters can we alienate"???

And as you rightly say there will be extra strain on nhs and social care as a result of this - and that affects everyone!

Wtf! Idiots!!

its fucking crazy. And it will affect the economy.

Possibly even push M&S even closer to the brink (said sort of tongue in cheek)

Thank you for posting this Helena. I'm 9 years younger than DH so this will affect us... but then we still have some time to go so who knows what the political landscape will be by then.

Yet another thing to worry about :(

If it is OK I think this would be great posted or linked to in FWR too.

@indieshuffle i agree I think this will affect women more as they tend to be the younger partner.

Done

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3481121-The-changes-to-Pension-Credit?watched=1

It will affect carers considerable but equally there will be many pensioners who are in perfectly good health with a partner years younger than them who is fit and well and able to work but has had no work searching commitments potentially for years on end because they are with an older partner ? It's a bit like my 80 year old dad who is perfectly fit, well and independent hooking up with a fifty year old before march 15th and being able to claim hundreds a month in pension credit between them with no need for her to be looking for any kind of work ? Unless I have misunderstood or missed something?

There clearly needs to be something in place to compensate carers who can't work at all or very few hours though.

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

Surely you should have to be of pension age to receive pension credit, regardless of your partners age. I don't agree that if you are for example 10 years younger than your partner you should be able to claim joint pension credit as you should be working until the pension age. It is a completely separate issue from being a carer for your partner. In that case carer's allowance should be claimed, and I do agree that carers allowance is a ridiculously low amount considering it can be a full time job in itself. Maybe it's that which should be looked at!

Quite Cloudsurfing. Its well known that pensioners are magically protected from the cold if they have a younger partner.

And you need to check the eligibility criteria for Carers Allowance before spouting off that that should be claimed instead.

If a partner gets a mobility element and not a care element CA can not be claimed.

I really don’t get this either.
Why is there any interrelation between two people in a couple and the benefits they claim? Leaving aside disabilities, why would someone below pension age NOT be working? Regardless of whether their partner happens to be retired. I just don’t get it. It sounds like a loophole exists which some people might exploit, and the money should be spent in supporting people who cannot work instead.
But perhaps I am missing something.

Would you employ someone with a big caring responsibility?

Existing system penalises single people too as they wouldn’t get the credit. Seems like a loop hole has been blocked. Unless you care for someone I can’t see why you should be able to not work before retirement age and get govt support too.

But that’s what I mean. The fact your partner needs caring for is a separate issue from the pension credit. If you can’t claim carers allowance, either your partner doesn’t actually need a career, or partner does and therefore the carers system is wrong and needs sorting out. The pension credit shouldn’t be there to cover that, and shouldn’t be given to people below pension age. It’s right they should close the loophole and give the money to others who need it.

yes my post of 22.59 clearly demonstrates that we dont need it

i will remember that the next time i see a health worker on here moaning that a family carer isnt doing their bit or doing enough because they cant afford to . We were living on £40 a week And yet you class us as a couple who didnt/doesnt need it.

it was to lift households with a pensioner living in it out of poverty.

To preface this i would always care for my DH but hypothetically if the system does not class a person in these situations as a carer then the system cannot prosecute for anything they perceive to be neglect.

Because you either are or you arent They cant have it both ways.

benefitsinthefuture.com/the-mixed-age-pension-credit-cut-what-does-it-really-mean/

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

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 Morganon 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"

Yea I think the fundamental problem is that people aren't being treated as individual entities.

It was already a MAJOR problem with UC and now this!

No 2 cannot live as cheaply as 1!

I'd dearly love to see the politicians deciding these amounts, deciding what's "enough" for a family to live on ACTUALLY live on it themselves for a length of time when currently there's examples of them spending MORE than a weeks money on ONE BREAKFAST!!

I’m afraid I still don’t get it.
Why would one half of a couple - below pension age - receive pension related benefits. Leaving aside the care issue which should be treated (and probably improved by the sound of it) separately as one might need to be a carer for someone at any age.

This reads to me like there is an assumption in the pension system l that the older partner is male/breadwinner and his female partner would want to retire/not work at the same time.
Which is a lifestyle choice and not one the taxpayer (us) should pay for.
Caring responsiblities are a separate issue.

" If you can’t claim carers allowance, either your partner doesn’t actually need a career"

Spouses who are on State Pension themselves cant claim Carers Allowance for their partner as you cant get CA and State Pension at the same time.

So they cant be carers then going by this logic.

It’s bonkers and I can’t understand why anybody thinks it is a good idea and is a fair policy.
At the very least it would make sense for the person of pension age to receive the single persons rate of pension credit and the younger person, if not in employment or in receipt of carers allowance to get an amount added on which would be equivalent to 50% of the rate of universal credit for a couple.