Can You Claim It? 7 April 2008– 5 April 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The details in this leaflet should be correct from 7 April 2008 to 5 April 2009. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this leaflet is correct. However, things do change, so it is always a good idea to seek expert advice on your personal situation. You can check if there have been changes by calling SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland). Can You Claim It? was written for Help the Aged by freelance financial journalist Paul Lewis. If you would like this leaflet in another format, such as large print or audio tape, please contact the Information Resources Team on 020 7278 1114. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents Section 1: Can you claim Pension Credit? Section 2: Can you claim Council Tax Benefit? Section 3: Can you claim Housing Benefit? Section 4: Can you claim a Funeral Payment? Section 5: Can you claim a Social Fund payment? Section 6: Can you claim help with health costs? Section 7: Can you get extra money in winter? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you live in England, Wales or Scotland, claims for Pension Credit are dealt with by The Pension Service (0845 60 60 265). In Northern Ireland, The Pension Service comes under the Social Security Agency. You can call the Pension Service Enquiry Line on 0845 601 8821. You can check your entitlement to Pension Credit and other means-tested benefits online at www.entitledto.com and www.thepensionservice.gov.uk Help the Aged produces other leaflets which you may find useful: for example, Claiming Disability Benefits, Questions on Pensions and information sheet no. 8, Council Tax. This advice does not apply to people in care homes. Up to four and a half billion pounds is left unclaimed by people aged 60 or more. This money is to help with day-to-day expenses, Council Tax, housing costs and health care, but at least two million people over 60 fail to claim it. Every year more people can claim these benefits. So even if you have not been able to get extra money before, you may be able to get help now. If you are reading this leaflet before 6 October 2008 get your claim in quickly as any benefit you claim can be backdated for longer if it is made before this date. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1: Can you claim Pension Credit? Around one and a half million people who could claim Pension Credit don’t. Pension Credit tops up your weekly income. It is paid in two parts – one part is called guarantee credit while the other is called savings credit. You must be aged at least 60 to get guarantee credit and once you reach 65 you may be able to get savings credit as well. For couples, it is the age of the older partner that counts. If you have been unable to get extra help in the past, you may still qualify this year. Pension Credit rates go up each year by more than State Retirement Pension rates. So even if your income was too high to get any Pension Credit last year, this year it may not be. Even if you have a pension from a job you did or some savings you may still be able to get Pension Credit. Guarantee credit – aged 60 or more If you are aged 60 or more you may qualify for the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit. Guarantee credit is extra money each week to bring your income up to the minimum amount the Government considers you need to live on. You can normally get guarantee credit if your weekly income is less than: * £124.05 if you are single; or * £189.35 between you if you are married or live as a couple. That includes two men or two women who live together as a couple. Guarantee credit should bring your income up to these amounts. For example, a single person with a weekly income of £100 will get a guarantee credit of £24.05 a week to make £124.05 alogether. And a couple living on £150 a week will get an extra £39.35 to make £189.35. If you are severely disabled, a carer or a home owner with a mortgage, you may get more guarantee credit. If your savings are ore than £6,000 you will get less. There is no upper limit to the amount of savings you can have. But if your savings are very high – in the tens of thousands of pounds – that will mean you get much less Pension Credit, maybe none at all. But it is always worth applying. Savings credit – aged 65 or more f you are 65 or more you may get the savings credit part of Pension Credit. Savings credit is extra money each week for people who have an income which is higher than the basic State Retirement Pension or have modest savings – see . You may get it by itself if your income is too high to get guarantee credit. Or you may get some savings credit paid on top of guarantee credit. If you are married or a civil partner – or live with someone as if you are – then only one of you has to be aged 65 or more. You can normally get some savings credit if your weekly income is less than: * £173.33 if you are single; or * £254.68 between you if you are married or live as a couple. If you are severely disabled add £50.35 to these amounts. If you are a carer add £27.75. Savings credit is not a fixed amount – it will boost your income if you have less than these amounts. The maximum amount of savings credit you can get is £19.71 if you are single or £26.13 between you if you are a couple. How to claim Pension Credit We explain in detail how to work out if you can get Pension Credit and how much it will be on pages of this leaflet. But if you do not want to do all the calculations, why not claim anyway? The easiest way to claim Pension Credit is over the phone. You do not have to fill in a form yourself or visit an office. Call The Pension Service using its freephone number on 0800 99 1234 (or 0808 100 6165 in Northern Ireland) and the form will be filled in for you. When you call it will speed things up if you have your National Insurance number and details of your income and savings to hand. If you need someone to visit you to help with claiming then you can request that by contacting your local benefits office. If you prefer you can go to The Pension Service website and fill in the form online and print it out and post it. If you are asked to send documents it is best to keep a photocopy of everything you send and write down the date you sent them. If you apply before 6 October 2008 Pension Credit is backdated for up to 12 months. But it will be reduced to three months for applications made on or after this date. Normally, The Pension Service will want to pay your Pension Credit directly into a bank account or a Post Office Card Account. If you can’t manage an account, you can ask to have your Pension Credit paid by a cheque you can cash at the post office. But you will have to rely on the post to get your payment, so it’s usually better to have the money paid directly into an account if you can. If you get Pension Credit you can also make another claim to get a reduction in your Council Tax (or your rates in Northern Ireland). If you get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit you will normally get the whole lot paid. You will also get some or all of your rent paid. You can claim over the phone when you claim Pension Credit. You may also be able to get free dental treatment and help with the cost of glasses, and help with some other expenses. You may also get an extra £8.50 each complete week the temperature is freezing or below. There is more information about these things later. Guarantee credit – how to work it out Before you claim you may want to see roughly what you will get. To see if you can get guarantee credit, you have to work out two figures – your minimum guarantee and your weekly income. Your minimum guarantee is the minimum amount the Government thinks you need to live on. If this amount is more than your weekly income, you should get some guarantee credit. If you have savings, the interest they earn is ignored. But if you have more than £6,000 an amount is added to your weekly income when the calculation is done – we explain how that works later. If you are married, or live with someone as if you are, your income and savings are added together. Your minimum guarantee The basic minimum guarantees are shown in Table 1. Remember that if you live as a couple, only one of you needs to be 60 or more. Information on how you count as a carer or as severely disabled is given after the table. To count as a carer you must normally spend at least 35 hours a week looking after someone who is severely disabled who gets Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance care component at the highest or middle rate. You need to put in a claim to get Carer’s Allowance. You may not get Carer’s Allowance, even though you are entitled to it, because of the overlapping benefits rule. If you are not sure whether you qualify for Carer’s Allowance, get advice from SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland). To qualify as severely disabled you must get Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance care component at the highest or middle rate. If you live as a couple usually you both need to get one of these benefits. You must also fulfil two other conditions: * First, no one lives with you apart from your spouse, or a tenant or co-owner of your property. (If you share a house, for example with a close relative, the rules are very complicated, so check with your local Citizens Advice Bureau.) * Second, if you are single, no one gets Carer’s Allowance (CA) for looking after you. If you are a couple your minimum guarantee will vary depending on whether anyone gets CA for looking after one of you. You will not qualify as severely disabled if you both have carers who get CA for looking after you. You won’t get any extra Pension Credit for being responsible for a child. You will need to apply separately for Child Tax Credit. If you get guarantee credit you will automatically be entitled to the maximum Child Tax Credit – but you still need to apply. For more information call the Tax Credits helpline on 0845 300 3900. Decide which basic amount in Table 1 applies to you and write it down. Then add on any of the following if they apply to you: * An amount for mortgage interest, if you have a mortgage. However, this is not normally the actual interest you pay. Instead you add on the amount you would pay if your lender charged interest at what is called the standard rate. You can find out what the standard rate is by contacting your local benefits office or The Pension Service. * The weekly amount of any service charge you have to pay for where you live can be added in some circumstances. The rules about this are more complex for tenants than for people who own their own homes. If you pay a service charge get advice about what you can add here from The Pension Service on 0845 60 60 265 or from your local benefits office if you live in Northern Ireland. * Any ground rent which you have to pay as an owner-occupier or with a lease of more than 21 years. The total is your minimum guarantee. Write it down here so you can refer back to it later. Your income Your weekly income is counted after any tax or national insurance has been deducted. If you are married or in a civil partnership or live with someone as if you are, add your incomes together. You should include any pension you get (state or private), but do not count: * Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit * Attendance Allowance (or Constant Attendance Allowance), Disability Living Allowance, or War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement * Christmas Bonus * Winter Fuel Payment * Social Fund payments * Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance and Severe Disablement Occupational Allowance (both paid with Constant Attendance Allowance) * Child Benefit or Child Tax Credit. Also ignore any payments to refund work expenses, any gifts in kind, most charitable or voluntary payments, and the annuity paid to holders of the Victoria or George Cross. The interest you receive from any savings isn’t counted as income. But if you have savings above £6,000 you will have to add on an amount to your income. We explain how to work out this amount in the next section. If you have any type of equity release scheme (sometimes called a lifetime mortgage, a mortgage annuity, a roll-up loan or a home reversion scheme), you count the net weekly income you get from it – however that is paid. If the plan gave you a capital sum rather than an income, that counts as part of your capital. How that affects your income is explained later. Add up all your income and then take off £10 if you get a War Disablement Pension or War Widow’s Pension. War widows can also take off the whole of the War Widow’s Supplementary Pension – £73.64 this year. Then, if you have earnings from paid work, take off £5 if you are single or £10 between you if you are part of a couple. However, you can take off a total of £20 if you are disabled and your disability began before the age of 60. You can also take off £20 if you get Carer’s Allowance. Your capital and savings Any capital or savings you have of £6,000 or less will not affect your guarantee credit at all. But if you have more than £6,000 in savings you must add an amount on to your weekly income. The rule is that you add an extra £1 to your income for every £500 (or part of £500) that you have over £6,000. There is no upper limit to the amount of savings you can have. Your ‘capital’ includes any money, savings or investments that you have. For example, these items all normally count as capital: * any cash you have in a bank or building society * investments such as shares, which will be counted at roughly the market price on the day you claim * National Savings products, counted at their current cash-in value * the interest earned by your savings, when it is received. Some things do not normally count as capital. For example: * personal possessions, even valuable ones such as jewellery * the value of your home * the value of funeral plans * the capital value of a pension fund or annuity * money raised from the sale of your home if you are keeping it to buy a new one. There are other items that are ignored, so seek advice if you are not sure if something counts as capital or not. If you are married or in a civil partnership or live with someone as if you are, add your savings together. If your savings come to £6,000 or less you don’t need to add any extra amount on to your weekly income. If your savings come to more than £6,000, you need to do the following to work out what to add on to your income figures: * If it is an exact number of thousands, leave it as it is. If it is not an exact number of thousands, round it up to the next £500. So £7,000 stays at £7,000 but £7,001 becomes £7,500 and £7,582 becomes £8,000. * Subtract £6,000. * Divide by 100 (you can do that by knocking off the last two zeroes). * Divide by 5. The answer is the extra weekly income you have to add on to the income figure you have worked out. For example, Doreen has £10,424 in a building society account. It is not an exact number of thousand pounds so she rounds it up to the next £500 making £10,500. She subtracts £6,000 which leaves £4,500. She knocks off the last two zeroes to give £45 and divides that by five to give £9. Doreen has to add £9 to her actual weekly income. Your guarantee credit When you have taken off and added on these various amounts to your income, the result is called your net weekly income. Write your weekly income here so you can refer back to it later. * If your net weekly income is less than your minimum guarantee then guarantee credit will make up the difference. Subtract your income W from your minimum guarantee A to work out how much you will get. However, if there are other adults living with you apart from your partner, you may get less guarantee credit. For more information about how living with other adults will affect your guarantee credit, call The Pension Service on 0800 99 1234. * If the income figure you worked out is more than your minimum guarantee, then you probably will not get any guarantee credit. This method of doing the calculation is not foolproof. There are complications which are too lengthy to explain in a short leaflet. If you think that you may get some help why not apply – you can claim easily over the phone. If you get guarantee credit then you will usually get all your Council Tax (rates in Northern Ireland) and most or all of all your rent paid. But to get that help you will have to apply for Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit. You can do that when you claim Pension Credit. Whether you are entitled to guarantee credit or not, the next step is to find out if you can get savings credit. Savings credit – how to work it out If you are aged 65 or more you may get savings credit even if your income is too high to get guarantee credit. If you are married or in a civil partnership or live with someone as if you are then only one of you has to be 65 or more. If your weekly income is less than * £91.20 if you are single; or * £145.80 between you if you are a couple – either a man and a woman or two men or two women living together as a couple then you can only get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit. Read pages xx–xx to work out your entitlement to guarantee credit. You will get some savings credit if your income is more than the above amounts but less than: * £173.33 if you are single; or * £254.68 between you if you are married or a couple. If your income is close to these amounts, the Pension Credit you get may not be very much. But it is still worth claiming as it can bring you entitlement to other things. If you are very disabled or a carer you may still get savings credit even if your income is considerably higher than these amounts. The calculation Working out savings credit is complicated – you may need to use a calculator. Follow these six steps and note down your answers in the spaces provided. Step 1 Your minimum guarantee We explained earlier how to work out your minimum guarantee. When you have checked what it is, write it down again here: [ ] Step 2 Your weekly income Work out your weekly income as explained earlier. * If you have savings of more than £6,000 don’t forget that you ignore any interest or income your savings earn but you have to add an extra amount on to your income depending on how much your savings are worth. * If you live with someone as a couple remember to add your income and savings together when working all this out. Write down your weekly income here: [ ] Step 3 * Single: If your weekly income is £124.05 or more then write down £19.71. Call this Q and go to step 5. If your weekly income is less than £124.05, go to step 4. * Couple: If your joint weekly income is £189.35 or more then write down £26.13. Call this Q and go to step 5. If your weekly income is less than £189.35, go to step 4. Step 4 * Single: If your weekly income is less than £124.05 subtract £91.20 from your income. Divide the answer by 10 and multiply it by 6. Call this Q and go to step 5. * Couple: If your joint weekly income is less than £189.35 subtract £145.80 from your income. Divide the answer by 10 and multiply it by 6. Call this Q and go to step 5. Step 5 Is your weekly income more than your minimum guarantee? * If yes then go to step 6. * If no then you have finished! Your savings credit is equal to Q. Step 6 If your weekly income is more than your minimum guarantee there’s a bit more arithmetic to do. First, subtract your minimum guarantee from your weekly income. Now divide the answer by 10 and multiply by 4. Call this T. * If T is bigger than Q, then you will not get savings credit. * If T is smaller than Q, subtract T from Q. The answer is your savings credit. Remember, this calculation only works out the savings credit part of Pension Credit. You may also be entitled to some guarantee credit. For example, a single person aged 67 with a weekly income of £130 will normally get an extra £17.33 a week to make £147.33 altogether. And a couple living on £190 a week will normally get an extra £25.87 to make a total income of £215.87. This method of doing the calculation is not foolproof. There are complications which are too lengthy to explain in a short leaflet. It will not give the right answer if you have income from Working Tax Credit, Incapacity Benefit, contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Disablement Allowance, or maintenance payments from a former spouse or partner. From October/November 2008, Incapacity Benefit will be replaced by Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). However, this will initially only affect new claimants. Anyone claiming Incapacity Benefit at the time that ESA is introduced will not be transferred on to the new scheme until April 2010. At the time that this leaflet was written there was no information available on how or whether benefit rates would be affected by this. Your local benefits office should be in contact with you about these changes. If you have income from these sources you may still qualify for savings credit. Contact SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland) for advice, or why not apply anyway? You can also check your entitlement to Pension Credit online at www.thepensionservice.gov.uk or at www.entitledto.com Claiming Pension Credit is simple. Just call The Pension Service credit helpline 0800 99 1234 (0808 100 6165 in Northern Ireland). The call is free. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 2. Can you claim Council Tax Benefit? Would you like to pay less Council Tax? Perhaps none at all? Around two million people aged 60 or more could pay less Council Tax but don’t claim. You could be one of them. Council Tax Benefit is paid by reducing the amount of Council Tax you have to pay. More people than ever can claim because of recent changes to the system. So even if you have applied before but didn’t qualify, it is worth applying again. If you get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit you will usually get all your Council Tax paid, though you still have to put in a claim. But many people who don’t get guarantee credit can also get their Council Tax reduced or paid in full. You can get all your Council Tax paid if: * you are 65 or more and have a weekly income of less than £143.80 if you are single or £215.50 between you if you are a couple; or * you are aged 60–64 and have a weekly income of less than £124.05 if you are single or £189.35 between you if you are a couple. Carers can get all their Council Tax paid even if their income is £27.75 more than these amounts. People who are severely disabled may get all their Council Tax paid even if their income is £50.35 higher. If your income is higher than these amounts you may still get some of your Council Tax paid. For example, if your full Council Tax is £1,400 a year and you are aged 65 or more, you can get some help with it if your income is up to £244 per week for a single person or up to £349 per week if you live as a couple. If your Council Tax is more than this, you may still get some help even if you have a higher income than that. So it is always worth checking. We explain how to work out what help you can get through Council Tax Benefit. But if you don’t want to do the calculations, why not apply anyway? Even if you cannot get your Council Tax reduced because of your income there are three other ways it may be cut. * If you live alone it is cut by 25 per cent. * If you, or someone who lives with you, has a permanent and substantial disability and your home meets certain conditions you may get a reduction. If you qualify, your Council Tax will be reduced by moving the value of the property down one band. If your property is already in band A, your tax is reduced by one-sixth. * If another adult lives with you (not your partner or tenant) and their income is less than £220 a week it is cut by between 7.5 per cent and 25 per cent. If a student lives with you it may be reduced to nothing. If you think one of these reductions might apply to you, and you have not asked for it, contact your council right away. How to claim Council Tax Benefit Contact your local council and ask about Council Tax reductions and Council Tax Benefit. The place to go is the office of the council which sends your Council Tax bill. There should be someone there to help you fill the form in. Council Tax Benefit can be backdated for up to 12 months for people over 60. But that will be reduced to 3 months for claims made from 6 October 2008. If you claim Pension Credit you should be asked to claim Council Tax Benefit at the same time. From October 2008 the claim will be made automatically. If you claim before this date, you will be sent the form to sign and return to the local council. If you already get Pension Credit, call the Pension Credit helpline on 0800 99 1234 (or 0808 100 6165 in Northern Ireland). If you have internet access you can check your entitlement to Council Tax Benefit at www.entitledto.com Council Tax Benefit – how to work it out If you get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit you will normally get all your Council Tax paid, so you don’t need to work it out here. But you will still need to make a claim. To see if you can get Council Tax Benefit you need to work out three figures – your personal allowance, your income and your net weekly Council Tax. Your personal allowance Use Table 2 to decide which amount applies to you and write it down. If you are a couple, use the age of the older partner. Your income Work out your net weekly income as you do for guarantee credit. There are three important differences. * If you get the savings credit part of Pension Credit, then add that on to your income. But don’t add on any guarantee credit you get. * If you get a War Disablement Pension or a War Widow’s Pension, the local council may ignore more than £10 of it. All councils in Scotland and Northern Ireland and almost all in Wales and England ignore it all. You will need to contact your council to find out. * If you have savings then you can ignore them if they are up to £6,000. If they are more than £6,000 then you have to add on an amount to your income. If you do not get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit then you cannot get Council Tax Benefit if your savings are more than £16,000. * Your net weekly Council Tax To work out your weekly Council Tax you need the annual amount of Council Tax you have to pay (less the water and sewerage charges in Scotland). Remember to take off any reductions you are entitled to. Once you have subtracted any reductions, divide that annual Council Tax figure by 365 and multiply by 7 to give your net weekly Council Tax. Your Council Tax Benefit You should now have three figures: your net weekly income, your personal allowance and your net weekly Council Tax. You work out your Council Tax Benefit in three steps. 1.Take the personal allowance away from your net weekly income. 2.Divide the result by 5. 3.Take the result away from your net weekly Council Tax. If the answer is more than zero, that is the amount of your Council Tax Benefit. But if there are other adults living with you – apart from your partner – you may get less. What now? This method of doing the calculation is not foolproof. There are complications which are too lengthy to explain in a short leaflet. If you think that you might get Council Tax Benefit, go to your local council office and ask for a claim form. Or if you already get Pension Credit call the Pension Credit helpline on 0800 99 1234 (0808 100 6165 in Northern Ireland) and ask them to send you a claim form. More help with Council Tax There is a special Council Tax Benefit which can be paid in some cases even if your income or savings are too high to get the normal Council Tax Benefit. You can get it if you are single (or not living with your husband or wife) and have someone living in your home who meets all the following conditions: * is aged 18 or over * is not paying you rent * is not your husband, wife or civil partner * is not living with you as if you are married * does not have to pay Council Tax themselves * has a low income. This reduction is called Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit and it is claimed by fewer than one person in ten who could get it. If the person living with you gets any Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, then your Council Tax is reduced by 25 per cent. If their gross weekly income, before tax is deducted, is less than £169, it is reduced by 15 per cent. If their gross weekly income is less than £220, your Council Tax is reduced by 7.5 per cent. If the person living with you is a student and you get Pension Credit then you will get your Council Tax reduced to zero. Their savings are not taken into account. But any interest they get (before tax is deducted) counts as part of their income. If they get Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance those amounts are ignored when calculating their gross income. The rebate applies to the Council Tax due for each day they live with you and fulfil the conditions. If you have more than one person living with you (such as two grown-up children) and they all meet the conditions listed above, then you may still get the Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit. If their incomes added together (ignoring any Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance) are less than £169, then you get a 15 per cent reduction. If their incomes added together are less than £220, then you get a 7.5 per cent reduction. If everyone living with you is on Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, then you get a reduction of 25 per cent. If you think you may be eligible for Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit you must apply to your local council. It can be backdated up to a year but that will be reduced to 3 months for claims made from 6 October 2008. If you qualify for normal Council Tax Benefit and for Alternative Maximum Council Tax Benefit, you cannot get them both. You will get whichever is higher. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 3. Can you claim Housing Benefit? Up to 300,000 people over 60 could get help with their rent but don’t claim. Some of them could get all their rent paid. One of them could be you. If you are a tenant then you may be able to get help with your rent through Housing Benefit. If you are a council or housing association tenant, Housing Benefit is paid by reducing the amount of rent you have to pay. If you are a private tenant, Housing Benefit is normally paid directly into your bank account or by cheque; you pay your landlord in the normal way. If you live in Northern Ireland, you may also get help through housing benefit with your rates. In this section the word ‘rent’ has a special meaning. That is explained in the paragraph headed ‘net weekly rent’. Some older people can get all their rent paid – including those who get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit. You will get all your rent paid if: * you are 65 or more and have a weekly income of less than £143.80 if you are single or £215.50 between you if you are a couple; or * you are aged 60–64 and have a weekly income of less than £124.05 if you are single or £189.35 between you if you are a couple. Even if your income is higher than this you may get some help. For example, if you are 65 and single and your weekly rent is £75, you can get some of your rent paid if your weekly income is £258 a week or less. If you are married or live as a couple then you will get some of your rent paid if your joint weekly income is less than £330. If you are aged 60–64 paying the same £75 a week rent the limits are £238 (single) and £303 (couple). If your rent is more than £75 a week then you should get some help even if your income is more than these amounts. It is always worth checking. This section explains the details of how to work out what you can get. But if you don’t want to do the arithmetic why not apply anyway? It is very simple. Just contact your local council and ask about Housing Benefit to help pay your rent. It can be backdated for up to one year for people over 60 but that will be reduced to three months for claims made from 6 October 2008. If you claim Pension Credit and you pay rent you should be asked to claim Housing Benefit at the same time. If you have internet access you can check your entitlement to Housing Benefit at www.entitledto.com Housing Benefit – how to work it out If you get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit you can normally get all your rent paid (and in Northern Ireland, all your rates too) so you don’t need to work through the calculations here. But you do have to make a claim. Housing Benefit is worked out in a similar way to Council Tax Benefit. If you don’t get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit, then you can’t get Housing Benefit if your savings are more than £16,000. First work out your personal allowance and your net weekly income exactly as you did for Council Tax Benefit. Next, you must work out your net weekly rent. Net weekly rent If you are a tenant of a council then the rent that you get help with is the full rent you pay – but excluding some charges such as heating. But if you are a tenant of a housing association or a private landlord the amount that counts as your ‘rent’ may not be the actual rent you pay (see below). Tenants of private landlords and housing associations * If you started or renewed your tenancy before 1 January 1996 (2 April 1996 in Northern Ireland), your ‘net weekly rent’ is usually the amount of rent you have to pay each week, but it can be restricted in some cases. Include service charges you have to pay for such things as lifts, cleaning and entry-phones. Inclusive heating costs do not count as part of your rent. * If you started or renewed your tenancy after 1 January 1996 (2 April 1996 in Northern Ireland) and your rent is above average for your type of accommodation in your area, your net weekly rent may be less than the rent you actually pay. Ask the council what net weekly rent will be used when Housing Benefit is worked out. Private landlords only * Tenants of private landlords who start or renew their tenancy from 7 April 2008 will be entitled to what is called a ‘local housing allowance’. This is simply an amount which is used in the housing benefit calculation instead of the actual rent you pay. The council will tell you what it is for your area. The local housing allowance scheme has been running as a pilot in 18 council areas for some years. Tenants in these areas will have a local housing allowance already. They are Argyl & Bute, Blackpool, Brighton & Hove, Conwy, Coventry, East Riding of Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Guilford, Leeds, Lewisham, N E Lincs, Norwich, Pembrokeshire, St. Helens, Salford, South Norfolk, Teignbridge, and Wandsworth. Your Housing Benefit You should now have three figures: your net weekly income, your personal allowance and your net weekly rent or local housing allowance – call either of these ‘rent’. You work out your Housing Benefit as follows: 1. Take the personal allowance away from your net income. 2. Multiply the result by 0.65. 3. Take that result away from your rent. If the answer is 50p or more then that is the amount of Housing Benefit you will normally get (but you may receive less Housing Benefit if there are other adults apart from a partner living with you). If it is less than 50p then you get no Housing Benefit. What now? These calculations are not foolproof. There are complications which are too lengthy to explain in a short leaflet. So if you think you might be entitled to Housing Benefit go to your local council office and ask for a claim form. Remember, if you are claiming Pension Credit you can claim Housing Benefit at the same time. If you already get Pension Credit then call the Pension Credit helpline on 0800 99 1234 (0808 100 6165 in Northern Ireland). Discretionary Housing Payments Even if you get Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit you may not be able to meet your housing costs. If so you can apply for extra money called a Discretionary Housing Payment which can help with rent or Council Tax. Each local council has its own budget and rules. Ask your local council how to apply. Can you claim money off your rates? (Northern Ireland) The rating system in Northern Ireland changed from 1 April 2007. Rates on your property are now based on its capital value at 1 January 2005. You should have been informed of the value during 2006. If you think the valuation is wrong you should make a formal application for a review to the District Valuer. You can then appeal further. Full details at www.lpsni.gov.uk or from the district office of the Land and Property Services Agency www.lpsni.gov.uk. You can call 0800 197 0611 for more help. If the rates bill for your property increased by more than a third then your rate rise in 2007–08 will have been restricted to a third. The extra will be phased in 2008–09 and, if the rise was very big, 2009–10. The full rates will apply in 2010–11. If you are disabled and your property has been modified because of your disability then you are entitled to a Disabled Person’s Allowance of 25 per cent off your rates. If you already have an allowance of more than that you will be allowed to keep it. Housing Benefit and Rate Relief If you pay rates as an owner-occupier or a tenant in Northern Ireland you may get your rates reduced through Housing Benefit and a new system of Rate Relief. The reduction will be paid by cutting your rates bill. On rates of £900 a year you can get help with an income of well over £300 a week if you are single and around £400 a week if you are a couple. Work out your personal allowance and your net weekly income. Next work out your weekly rates. If you are a tenant and pay rates, you can find your weekly rates from your rent book or your landlord. Otherwise, your annual rates are the rates on your property levied by the Government and the district council after any reductions for transitional relief of disability. Divide the annual rates by 365 and multiply by 7 to get your weekly rates. Then: 1. Take the personal allowance away from your net income. 2. Multiply the result by 12 and divide by 100. 3. Take that amount away from your weekly rates. If the answer is more than zero then that is the amount of your Housing Benefit and Rate Relief for rates. But it may be less if there are other adults, apart from your partner, living with you. Water and sewerage charges New charges for water and sewerage will be phased in over two years from April 2009. There will be more information on the help you can get with them in next year’s Can You Claim It? What now? Because the system in Northern Ireland is still fairly new it is worth checking your entitlements. So if you think you might be entitled to any reduction in your rates you should ask for help from your local Citizens Advice Bureau or call SeniorLine in Northern Ireland on 0808 808 7575. You can also go to your district Housing Executive Office if you are a Housing Executive tenant. If you are the tenant of a private landlord or an owner-occupier then contact the Land & Property Services Agency at www.lpsni.gov.uk or call 0800 587 7477 for more information about Housing Benefit. Help with other expenses If you get Pension Credit you may be entitled to other help as well – such as money towards funeral costs, free dental care, help towards the cost of glasses or help with fares to and from hospital. You may also get help with some of these things if you get Council Tax Benefit or Housing Benefit. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 4. Can you claim a Funeral Payment? If your husband, wife or civil partner dies, you may get help with the cost of their funeral if you are receiving Council Tax Benefit, Housing Benefit, Pension Credit or Working Tax Credit with a disability addition. If a relative dies, you may get help with the cost of their funeral if you are getting one of the above benefits and you are the closest surviving relative. If there is another relative who had a similar connection, and who is not getting a means-tested benefit, they will be expected to pay. The payment will cover a burial plot and the burial or cremation fee – though not the cost of burying ashes –and any associated medical expenses. You will get up to £700 to cover most of the rest of the costs of the funeral. If the deceased had a funeral payment plan then up to £120 can still be claimed for these costs if they are not covered by the plan. In addition you can apply for the cost of one return journey within the UK to make the arrangements, and, if the body must be moved more than 80 kilometres (about 50 miles) within the UK, the extra costs of bringing the body home will also be covered. If the funeral journey has to be more than 80 kilometres then the extra cost of that will be covered too. You must claim within three months of the funeral on a form from your local benefits office. You will get the Funeral Payment, even if you have savings, as long as you get one of the benefits mentioned earlier. If any other friend or relative gives you money towards the cost of the funeral, that amount will be deducted from the payment. The Funeral Payment may be reclaimed by the Department for Work and Pensions from any cash available from the deceased person’s estate. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 5. Can you claim a Social Fund payment? People who get Pension Credit (guarantee credit, savings credit or both) may be able to get help with some extra expenses from the Social Fund. The Fund is different from other benefits. Different offices apply the rules differently so it is important to seek advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau or other advice agency before applying for help from the Social Fund. Community Care Grants If you are finding it hard to manage at home because of your age or illness, and you are receiving Pension Credit, then you may get a Community Care Grant. The grant can cover the cost of moving to accommodation which is more suitable for you or which is nearer to relatives who will help to look after you. It can also pay essential expenses to help you stay where you are rather than go into a care home or hospital. If you are already in a care home or hospital, then you may get a grant to help you move out into your own accommodation. A Community Care Grant can pay for minor essential repairs which are your responsibility and the cost of reconnecting fuel supplies. It can pay for heaters, bedding and help with laundry costs including a washing machine in some cases. It can also pay for special or essential items of furniture or equipment. You will only get the full grant if you have less than £1,000 savings. You will be expected to use anything over £1,000 towards paying for what you need. Travelling expenses If you are receiving Pension Credit and you have a close relative who is ill, you may get a Community Care Grant to pay for the cost of visiting them in a hospital or care home, or even in their own home. You may possibly get a grant to visit a friend or more distant relative. You may also get a grant to attend a relative’s funeral. You normally get your fare on standard-class public transport and money for essential overnight stops. You will only get the full amount if you have less than £1,000 savings (£500, if you are under 60). If you will be visiting someone regularly, you should ask for a grant to cover your visits for up to six months. Budgeting Loans If you have been getting any Pension Credit for at least six months, you may get a Budgeting Loan of between £100 to £1,500 to help pay for essential and expensive items. These loans have to be paid back out of your weekly Pension Credit and will be reduced if your savings are more than £2,000 (£1,000 if you are under 60). Budgeting Loans can result in more debt and difficulty. It is always better to try to get a grant. Seek advice from a Citizens Advice Bureau or other advice agency before applying for a loan. How to claim a Social Fund payment You apply for a Community Care Grant or a Budgeting Loan on a form which you get from your local Jobcentre Plus office. Someone there should help you with the form. Even if you meet all the conditions to get a Social Fund grant or loan, you may find that you are refused. Each area only has a fixed amount of money for the payments and it is possible that they won’t have enough to meet all the claims. If you are refused a Social Fund payment or loan you can ask for a revision, and, if necessary, appeal against the decision to a Social Fund Inspector. It is often worth doing so. Get advice from SeniorLine or your local Citizens Advice Bureau. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 6. Can you claim help with health costs? Everyone aged 60 or more can get free prescriptions and a free sight test at any optician. In Wales everyone gets free prescriptions regardless of age. If you get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit you should also get help with the costs of a dental check-up or treatment, the cost of glasses, or with your fares to and from hospital for treatment. You may still get some help even if you don’t get guarantee credit, but you will have to apply for it. Your dentist, optician or hospital should have the form you need or you can call 0845 610 1112 and ask for form HC1. For more details, see our free information sheets no. 9, Health Benefits, and no. 14, Going into Hospital. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 7. Can you get extra money in winter? If you get any Pension Credit, you will get an extra payment each complete week that the weather is very cold. This Cold Weather Payment is £8.50 a week and is made for any period of seven days when the temperature is freezing or below, or it is forecast to be that cold. This payment will be sent automatically – you do not have to claim it. Every household which includes someone aged 60 or more will get a Winter Fuel Payment this winter to help with their fuel bills. The payment is £200, with an additional amount of £50, if there is someone aged at least 60 in the house; and £300, with an additional amount of £100, if there is someone aged at least 80. The qualifying date is 21 September 2008 so the £300 payment is made if the oldest person was born on 21 September 1928 or earlier and it is £200 if the oldest person was born on 21 September 1948 or earlier. It should be paid before Christmas, directly into your bank or building society account, or by cheque sent to your home. The additional amounts are only for this year: 2008–09 Your household may get more than these amounts if there are more than two people aged 60 or more, or if two or more people are making separate claims for Pension Credit (a couple receiving Pension Credit only counts as one joint claim). The Winter Fuel Payment is not means-tested or taxable. Nor does it count as ‘capital’ when you come to work out your entitlement to the benefits explained in this leaflet. Most people will receive their Winter Fuel Payment automatically without making a claim. But people aged 60–64 who do not get a State Retirement Pension should claim the Winter Fuel Payment. You don’t have to be receiving any particular benefit to get a Winter Fuel Payment – you qualify simply by your age. Up to 40,000 people of this age do not get the payment each year. If you think you qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment but it has not arrived by the middle of December 2008, call the Winter Fuel Payments Helpline on 08459 15 15 15.