What options does my mum have? 65, no property, no pension.

[Liverpoolgirl50]

As the title states - I’m nervous for my mum. She’s 65, privately rents (has never owned) and hasn’t paid into a private pension. Unfortunately my dad left her in a lot of debt so any savings she had went towards paying that off. She is on a salary of 26k and can cover her outgoings now, but isn’t going to be able to work forever..

She’s on a list for a council property but is very low down for priority. She has done a calculation for universal credit should she not be working and it isn’t enough to cover her bills etc.

She’s told me that she’s starting to worry as she gets older. My husband and I have a young baby and really don’t have the space for her to live with us, but if that’s the only option we have then I imagine we’d have to make it work.

Does anyone here know what her options are, or who she could speak to for advice?

Hopefully she will be able to carry on working until she reaches pension age which is not far away. She will then receive her state pension. She may be eligible for pension credit and if still private renting then she could claim housing benefit and council tax support. Universal credit is very low for just a single person not working. maybe she could look at reducing hours if she's not able to work and get topped up by Uc but unless she has health conditions preventing her from working full tie they do tend to push that.

Is she on the list for over 55s social housing? The waiting list might be shorter for these properties. As PP, once she reaches state pension age, she'll be entitled to pension credits, not UC.

When is she 66?
Is she due to receive her state pension this year or next year?

Does she have sufficient NI contributions for a full state pension?

She will either get the state pension or guaranteed pension credit, and she will then either be eligible for help with housing costs or council housing as an older person. Her income won't be high but honestly she won't be worse off than many - it's not an unusual situation.

As PPs have said, look into all the benefits and social housing specially for older people.

Honestly she is probably better off than My mum who has done the opposite .
She will get housing benefit for her rent after retirement age .
For goodness sake don't move her in with you as you'll be stuck with her forever .

Definitely explore over 55 properties, the list here is much shorter than standard social housing.

I work for a charity for older people doing benefit checks etc and believe me she is not unusual, there are literally loads of older people living in this situation, although I would say most are renting social housing. Absolutely loads get pretty much all their housing costs and council tax paid or at least a good chunk of it. Being eligible for even £1 of Pension credit gets you all your rent and council tax paid. If you become disabled and claim pension credit you may be eligible for extra money also which many who have saved will not get. This group of people are often way better off than those who scrimped and saved to buy their own home then in older age find they can't afford repairs and adaptions as they get more frail, or those who get a small amount of private pension meaning they are ruled out of pension credit and all the freebies that go with that.

Thanks everyone - that’s really helpful. We will look into over 55s properties. I’ve checked and her state pension age is 68, so a few years yet but she is very mentally and physically capable of working.

She gets a bit overwhelmed with it all, so this is really helpful. Thanks!

It will not be 68 if she is 65 now. Mine is 67 and I have 12 years to go so no way it can be higher.

@Babyroobs exactly .. and they will get their care paid for when I've already paid out £100k for my mum in the last year . Honestly not worth working like a dog your whole life .. the system is just not fair !

It might be a better quality of life for her to continue working if she can, even if it's fewer hours.
You can check your NI contributions here https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record and it's worth paying voluntary contributions to fill in any gaps.

If she is 65 now, her state pension age is 66?

Definitely this

Sorry I got it slightly wrong, she’s 64 - 65 in November. I did the GOV calculator and it says 68?

I would just say she has worked her whole life and very hard as a single parent when I was young, she’s never claimed anything other than child benefit and has made the full NI contributions.

My mum has widows share of my dads pension so she gets private pension and state pension

her friend gets state pension and pension credit she’s only marginally worse off than my mum

Yes definitely, so op's mum barely has any time left to go.

Look at Housing21... They provided a flat for my mum and she gets all her rent and council tax paid.

Definitely 66 - I’m only 52 and I will get my state pension at 67.

If she's 65 in November this year then she gets her state pension in November 2025 aged 66. It says so on the Govt calculator.

@Liverpoolgirl50 Definitely not 68. It goes up to age 67 between 2026 and 2028, so staggered. If she will be 66 in November 2025 she will get it when she is 66

She'll be able to claim housing benefit to cover her rent, and state pension is around £1000 a month for other costs.

Oh you’re right! Blaming it on baby brain… sorry.

She'll be fine. If she's capable of working, she's capable of looking into all this herself.

My mum was always skint when she was working. Worked hard all her life. Mostly full time, right up until retirement. She missed being able to retire at 60 by 6 months! Had to work until 65. She is actually better off now that she is retired. She gets her pension, pension credit, housing benefit and her council tax paid. Also attendance allowance but that’s another story. Your mum will be fine.