Customer/Partner in receipt of Pension Credit

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Customer/Partner in receipt of Pension Credit

This benefit may apply if you are in receipt of Pension Credit.

You can access the information on this page by using the following links:

Maximum weekly eligible Rent or Council Tax
Total Allowances and Premiums (Applicable Amount)
Final Calculation
What if I think my award is wrong?

Maximum weekly eligible Rent or Council Tax

We start by calculating the maximum award you could be entitled to.

Council House Rent:
We calculate your maximum eligible Housing Benefit based on your weekly rent less any eligible service charges, for example insurance, fuel.
Housing Association Rent:
We calculate your maximum eligible Housing Benefit based on your weekly rent less any ineligible service charges.
Private Landlord Rent:
We need to refer your claim to the Rent Officer who will decide the rent figure that is to be used to calculate benefit. From that we deduct ineligible service charges eg fuel, meals.
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) - new claims after 07/04/08:
We work out the LHA rate based on the number of bedrooms you need, and use this to calculate your award.
Council Tax:
We calculate your maximum eligible Council Tax less any discount. Benefit cannot be paid on water and sewerage charges.
Non-dependants:
We then check if you have any non-dependants and make the appropriate deductions.
Guarantee Credit and Guarantee & Savings Credit:
- If you are entitled to Guarantee Credit or Guarantee & Savings Credit you will be entitled to the maximum Housing and Council Tax Benefit, less any non dependant deductions.
- If you have capital/savings over £16,000, you will still be entitled to the maximum Housing and Council Tax Benefit.
Savings Credit:
- If you qualify for Savings Credit only, the Pension Service will advise us the amount you receive. They will also give us an 'Assessed Income Figure' (AIF).
- The AIF is made up of you and your partner's income. The Pension Service also provides us with your capital details.
- To calculate Housing and Council Tax Benefit we use your Savings Credit award and your AIF.
- If you have capital/savings over £16,000, you will not be entitled to Housing and Council Tax Benefit.

Total Allowances and Premiums (Applicable Amount)

We then calculate your applicable amount.

To calculate this we refer to allowances and premiums set each year in April by the Department of Work and Pensions. These figures reflect the basic living needs of a claimant and their family.

The information on your claim form is checked to decide which allowances and premiums you are due according to your circumstances.

The breakdown of your allowances is shown on your benefit notification letter.

2012/13 Rates
Allowances	Housing Benefit	Council Tax Benefit
Single Person/Lone Parent aged 60 - 64	142.70	142.70
Single Person/Lone Parent aged 65 and over	161.25	161.25
Couple, at least 1 aged 60 but under 65	217.90	217.90
Couple, at least 1 aged 65 or over	241.65	241.65
Child of Young Person up to age 20	64.99	64.99

Premiums

If you satisfy the conditions of entitlement you may also be awarded Premiums.

Premium Entitlement
Criteria	Premium	Amount
If you are responsible for at least 1 child.	Family	17.40
For each child receiving DLA, or registered blind.	Disabled Child	56.63
If your child receives higher rate care Disability Living Allowance (DLA).	Enhanced Disability	22.89
If you get Carer's Allowance for looking after someone or you have underlying entitlement to it.	Carer	32.60
If you and/or your partner get middle or higher rate care component of DLA and live alone and no-one qualifies for Carer's Allowance for looking after you and/or your partner.	Severe Disibility:
	Single/Lone Parent	58.20
	Couple - 1 qualifies	58.20
	Couple - both qualify	116.40

Your Premiums will be shown on your benefit notification letter.

The Allowances and Premiums that you are due are added together and we call this your Applicable Amount.

Final Calculation

After we

establish your maximum eligible weekly rent/maximum rent or Council Tax;
make any non-dependant deductions;
establish your Applicable Amount;
calculate your net income figure;
calculate your tariff income from capital;

We then check if your

total net income is lower than your Applicable Amount.
- You will receive the maximum eligible amount of benefit less any non-dependant deductions.
total net income is higher than your Applicable Amount.
- The Applicable Amount is deducted from your total net income and the difference between the two is called 'excess income'.
- We apply a taper of 20% for Council Tax Benefit and 65% for Housing Benefit to the excess income.
- This amount is then deducted from your maximum eligible amount of benefit less any non-dependant deductions. The difference is the amount of benefit you will be awarded each week.