You must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached state pension age to qualify for Pension Credit.

You must include your partner on your application.

You’ll be eligible if either:

• you and your partner have both reached State Pension age
• one of you is getting Housing Benefit for people over State Pension age

A partner is either:

• your husband, wife or civil partner - if you live with them
• someone you live with as a couple, without being married or in a civil partnership

When you apply for Pension Credit your income is calculated. If you have a partner, your income is calculated together.

Pension Credit tops up:

• your weekly income to £218.15 if you’re single
• your joint weekly income to £332.95 if you have a partner

If your income is higher, you might still be eligible for Pension Credit if you have a disability, you care for someone, you have savings or you have housing costs.

Your income includes:

• State Pension
• other pensions
• earnings from employment and self-employment
• most social security benefits, for example Carer’s Allowance

Not all benefits are counted as income. For example, the following are not counted:

• Adult Disability Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Christmas Bonus
• Child Benefit
• Disability Living Allowance
• Personal Independence Payment
• social fund payments like Winter Fuel Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Council Tax Reduction

You can start your application up to 4 months before you reach state pension age.

You can apply any time after you reach State Pension age but your application can only be backdated by 3 months. This means you can get up to 3 months of Pension Credit in your first payment if you were eligible during that time.

You’ll need the following information about you and your partner if you have one:

• National Insurance number
• information about any income, savings and investments you have
• information about your income, savings and investments on the date you want to backdate your application to (usually 3 months ago or the date you reached State Pension age)

You’ll also need your bank account details. Depending on how you apply, you may also be asked for your bank or building society name, sort code and account number.

You can use the online service by following the link below (if you have already applied for your State Pension)

https://apply-for-pension-credit.service.gov.uk/start

Pension Credit claim line;
Telephone: 0800 99 1234