Navigating pensions and benefits can be confusing and sometimes stressful, especially if you are trying to figure it all out alone. With cost of living on everyone’s mind, you may be wondering if there are any hidden benefits, support schemes or handy top-ups and discounts you could be benefitting from as a pensioner in the UK.
Here, we are looking at the many different ways you may be eligible to boost your income with benefits on top of your usual Pension and Pension Credit arrangements. From the cold weather payments you could be using to heat your home, to the travel costs you could have covered if you attend hospital appointments, here is your handy guide to topping up your income.
At Home Instead, our aim is to help people age positively and in place by bringing expert care to their home. For nearly 20 years, we have been providing the highest standard of care, and creating industry-leading training programmes for our Care Professionals that are accredited by nursing and medical professionals. Today, we are the world’s largest global home care network, supporting over 100,000 seniors with personalised, tailored care at home. So whatever questions you have about arranging home care services, we can help.
Every year, millions of people around the UK collectively miss out on an estimated £19 billion in unclaimed welfare benefits, so if you are worried about upcoming payments or feel you don’t have enough to live on, it is definitely worth doing a little research and asking the right questions to find out if you are leaving money on the table in the form of potential benefit claims. There are many support schemes that go unadvertised, and lots of people have not heard of some of the income top-ups available to them.
Aside from your Pension and Pension Credit (often the primary source of income for seniors), we have laid out below each potential benefit you could explore, and kept the information as simple as possible so it’s easy to know whether or not you are eligible, and if so, where to make your claim.
Age UK has some great advice on Pensions and Pension Credit if you would like to learn more about this, or keep reading for all the other forms of income support you may want to consider.
Please keep in mind all advice in this guide is correct at the time of writing (November 2023), but always check the GOV.UK website for the most up-to-date information on benefits and support.
There are two main benefits to know about if you have a disability or require home care due to an illness or age-related difficulties:
This is a benefit to help anyone who needs assistance with day-to-day activities or getting around due to a long-term illness or disability.
You may be eligible for Personal Independence Payment if:
This benefit is gradually replacing the Disability Living Allowance (DLA), but if you were born before the 8th of April 1948 and you currently claim DLA, you can keep doing so.
How much you receive depends on how much help you need to do certain things. There is the daily living component and the mobility component, so you may be eligible for one or both of these depending on your condition.
If you already claim Pension Credits and you have a disability, you may be eligible for an extra payment known as a Severe Disability Premium, which can be up to £76.40 a week.
To make a claim, you can:
This is a benefit for those over State Pension age who need help with personal care (or need to be supervised for safety) due to an illness or disability.
You may be eligible for Attendance Allowance if:
Similar to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), there are two rates you might receive depending on how much help you need. Both amounts are typically paid every 4 weeks, and are not taxable.
To make a claim, you must fill out the Attendance Allowance claim form which you can obtain either by calling the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122, or by downloading a claim form from the GOV.UK website. Keep in mind you may need to submit supporting documents with this, such as GP letters, care plans or prescriptions.
This isa weekly payment to help support you if you care for someone at least 35 hours a week and they get certain benefits.
You may be eligible for Carer’s Allowance if:
There are some exemptions that may make you ineligible for Carer’s Allowance, for example if you share the care and another carer is already claiming Carer’s Allowance for that person. Check the GOV.UK website for more information to see if you qualify.
£76.75 per week, but you may not receive the full amount of both Carer’s Allowance and your State Pension simultaneously. If your State Pension is over £76.75 a week, your Pension Credit payments may increase instead.
Plus, if you are a carer and claim Pension Credits, you could receive an extra payment known as Carer Addition, of up to £42.75 a week.
You’ll need your National Insurance number to hand, as well as your bank or building society details, employment details (if applicable), and more. You can check everything you need here. You may also need details of the person you are caring for, such as their date of birth and address, National Insurance number, and Disability Living Allowance reference if they’re under 16.
You can make a claim for Carer’s Allowance on the GOV.UK website, and can backdate your claim by up to 3 months if applicable.
Home bills can be a worry, but there are a few ways to get help with paying them, and several schemes have been launched to support those who may need help keeping their home warm in winter. The three main ones to look into are:
This is an annual tax-free payment designed to help you cover heating costs in winter.
You may be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments if:
You may not be eligible for this if you:
You could receive between £250 and £600 to help pay your heating bills, and this amount includes a ‘Pensioner Cost of Living Payment’ of between £150 and £300. You can get this on top of other Cost of Living Payments you get with your benefit or tax credits. You could receive:
If you live in a care home, you could still be entitled to Winter Fuel Payments of:
You will usually receive the Winter Fuel Payment automatically if you are eligible, and this will be detailed in a letter that you will receive in October or November stating how much you’ll get.
You do not need to submit a claim if you get certain other benefits such as State Pension, Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and more, or if you have received Winter Fuel Payments in the past.
If none of this applies, you can fill in a Winter Fuel Payment claim form for UK residents and send it to the Winter Fuel Payment Centre from 18th September 2023:
Winter Fuel Payment Centre
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1LR
Or claim by phone from 4th October 2023 by calling the Winter Fuel Payment Centre on 0800 731 0160 (Textphone: contact Relay UK on 18001 then 0800 731 0160, or British Sign Language video relay service), and remember to have your National Insurance number, bank or building society details, and the date you were married or entered into a civil partnership (if appropriate) handy for the call. The deadline to make a claim for winter 2023 to 2024 is 31st March 2024.
These are payments to help you heat your home during particularly cold weather, and these are offered for each 7-day period in which the average temperature in your area is recorded as (or forecast to be) 0°C or below.
You may get Cold Weather Payments if:
£25 for each 7-day period of very cold weather between 1st November 2023 and 31st March 2024.
There’s no need to apply for Cold Weather Payments. If you are eligible, you will be paid automatically.
This is a one-off discount on electricity bills. You don’t receive this as money, it will be taken off your bill directly.
You may be eligible for Warm Home Discount if:
You could have £150 deducted from your electricity bill for winter 2023 to 2024. Remember, this money won’t be paid to you, it will be a one-off discount applied to your electricity bill between early October 2023 and 31st March 2024. This discount won’t affect your Cold Weather Payment or Winter Fuel Payment.
Warm Home Discount is usually applied automatically for those who are eligible, but if you think you’re eligible and haven’t received a letter, contact the Warm Home Discount helpline on 0800 030 9322 before 29th February 2024.
The government is investing £12 billion into Help to Heat initiatives to ensure homes are warmer and cheaper to heat, so look into schemes such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, Home Upgrade Grant, and Energy Company Obligation to see if you could save more on energy bills in the long term.
These are payments to help cover your rent if you are on a low income.
You may be eligible for Housing Benefits if:
Housing Benefits are means tested, so the amount you will receive depends on your income, how much you have in savings, who you live with, how much rent you pay, how many rooms are in your home, and whether you get other benefits such as Carer’s Allowance, Attendance Allowance or Personal Independence Payment.
If you are claiming Pension Credits, you can make a claim through the Pension Service by contacting them through the GOV.UK website. If you are not claiming any other benefits, you can apply for this through your local council, who will ask for evidence to go with your claim. This could be proof of identity, proof of income and savings and more, so you may want to check what you need and gather this information before you start your claim.
This is sometimes known as Council Tax Reduction, and this benefit helps those who are on a low income or are claiming certain benefits to pay their Council Tax bill.
You may be eligible for Council Tax Support if:
Your local council will decide your eligibility, and your employment status will not factor in this decision. It also won’t matter whether you own or rent your home.
Keep in mind that if you already claim Pension Credits you likely won’t have to pay Council Tax unless you have other people living with you.
There is no fixed amount of Council Tax Support because what you receive depends on your circumstances and where you live, and your local council will decide what amount will be helpful to you. They will take into account factors such as your age, your income, including any benefits you receive, your savings, who you live with, how much Council Tax you pay and more.
You will need to reach out to your local council, as they will run their own Council Tax Support scheme. You can find your local council and start a claim on the GOV.UK website.
This can be offered if you receive an unexpected bill or emergency cost that you can’t pay right away. There are a couple of ways this can be arranged:
Remember, this is a loan and you will need to repay it within 104 weeks. The amount you owe will automatically be taken off of your usual benefit payment until it is paid off, but they will let you know how much your payments will reduce by. You can apply for a Budgeting Loan online using the online portal, or apply by post by downloading a Budgeting Loan claim form.
Remember, this is a loan, and you will need to repay it within 12 months. The amount you owe will automatically be taken off of your Universal Credit payments until it is paid off. You can apply for a Budgeting Advance through your online account on GOV.UK, by calling the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644, or by speaking to your Jobcentre Plus work coach.
If you are over the age of 60 or have a disability, you may be entitled to free or discounted travel on public transport services. These include:
In the UK, many seniors are eligible for help with NHS health costs such as prescriptions, dental health and eye health:
Depending on your circumstances, you could also get help with NHS wigs and fabric supports, and travel costs if you are travelling to receive NHS treatment, so always check where you could be receiving support.
Two other benefits that are handy to know about include:
This can give those 75 or over a free TV licence, or a discount if they are visually impaired.
You may be eligible for discounted TV licence fees if:
You can also receive a 50% discount on your TV licence if you are blind or have a severe sight impairment.
A standard TV licence costs £159 per year, so you will get all or part of this payment discounted.
If you have already paid for your TV licence but believe you may be eligible for a discount or a free licence, you can contact TV Licensing for a refund.
When you turn 75 you can get in touch with TV Licensing on 0300 790 6117 to request an application form or apply online.
This is a payment you may receive if your spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner (if you have a child or children) has died, and this is designed to help ease any financial worries you may be facing.
You may be eligible for Bereavement Support Payments (BSP) if:
Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) is not means tested, so you can claim it no matter what your income is or whether you are working.
Call the Bereavement Service helpline on 0800 151 2012, download a claim form on GOV.UK to apply by post, or contact your local Jobcentre Plus to have a form sent to you by post.
Although this will be a difficult time for you and your family, it is important that you claim Bereavement Support Payments within three months of the death of your loved one to get the full amount if you are eligible. If you are struggling with grief and finding administrative tasks like this difficult, reach out to a loved one who can provide emotional support.
Figuring out which benefits you are eligible to claim can be a confusing process, so try not to become overwhelmed and seek help if you can. You could use the Age UK benefits calculator to see if you are entitled to anything you don’t know about, and visit the GOV.UK website for an extensive list of all benefits you may want to look into.
We’re an award-winning home care provider and part of a worldwide organisation devoted to providing the highest-quality relationship-led care for older people in their own homes. Arranging care for yourself or your loved one shouldn’t be stressful, so whatever questions you would like answered, feel free to reach out to the Home Instead team to discuss your needs.