Pension Credit Eligibility 2026: Who Qualifies and Savings

You must live in England, Scotland or Wales and have reached State Pension age to qualify for Pension Credit. Pension Credit is an income-related benefit, so your income is assessed when you apply. If you have a partner, your income is calculated together.

If you are from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you and your family usually also need settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to get Pension Credit.

A partner is your husband, wife or civil partner, if you live with them, or someone you live with as a couple without being married or in a civil partnership. You must include your partner on your application, and you are eligible if either:

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

You will stop getting Pension Credit if you start living with a partner who is under State Pension age. You can start getting it again when your partner reaches State Pension age.

If you were living with a partner under State Pension age before 15 May 2019 and getting Pension Credit, you keep getting it unless you stop being eligible. If that happens, you usually cannot get Pension Credit again until you and your partner are both eligible.

Your income includes:

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

Not all benefits are counted as income. These are not counted:

• ✗No: Adult Disability Payment
• ✗No: Attendance Allowance
• ✗No: Child Benefit
• ✗No: Christmas Bonus
• ✗No: Council Tax Reduction
• ✗No: Disability Living Allowance
• ✗No: Housing Benefit
• ✗No: Pension Age Disability Payment
• ✗No: Personal Independence Payment
• ✗No: Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance
• ✗No: social fund payments like Winter Fuel Payment

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

If you have £10,000 or less in savings and investments, this will not affect your Pension Credit. If you have more than £10,000, every £500 over £10,000 counts as £1 of income a week. For example, if you have £11,000 in savings, that counts as £2 income a week.

The official rates tables describe this as £1 for every £500, or part of £500, above the £10,000 you are allowed to keep, and set no upper limit on savings for the Guarantee Credit part. Having a lot of savings reduces what you get, but it does not stop you claiming on its own.

If you are entitled to a personal or workplace pension and have not claimed it yet, the amount you would expect to get still counts as income. If you have deferred your State Pension, the amount of State Pension you would get is counted as income.

You cannot build up extra amounts for deferring your State Pension if you or your partner are getting Pension Credit.

Pension Credit adds extra amounts to the standard minimum guarantee for other responsibilities and costs, so you can have a higher income than £238 or £363.25 and still qualify.

Severe disability, £86.05 a week

You could get an extra £86.05 a week if you get Attendance Allowance, the middle or highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance, the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment, Armed Forces Independence Payment, the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment or the middle or highest rate of the care component of Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance.

For a single claimant, the regulations add two conditions. First, no one aged 18 or over can normally be residing with you. Second, no one can be entitled to and in receipt of Carer's Allowance, carer support payment or the Universal Credit carer element for looking after you. You count as residing with someone only if you share any accommodation except a bathroom, a lavatory or a communal area.

These people are not counted as another adult:

• ✓Yes: a child or qualifying young person
• ✓Yes: someone who is severely sight impaired or blind, or who gets one of the qualifying disability benefits above
• ✓Yes: a carer who lives with you and is engaged by a charity or voluntary organisation that charges you for the service
• ✓Yes: someone who joins your household to care for you, for the first 12 weeks
• ✓Yes: someone who pays you rent, or whom you pay rent, on a commercial basis, if they are not a close relative
• ✓Yes: a co-owner of your home, or someone jointly liable with you to the landlord (for a close relative this only counts if the arrangement began before 11 April 1988, or on or before the date you first lived there)

For a couple, the amount is £172.10 a week if both partners get a qualifying benefit, and £86.05 if only one of you does. The same rules about other adults in the home and paid carers apply.

Carers, £48.15 a week

You could get an extra £48.15 a week if you get Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment, or you have claimed Carer's Allowance but are not being paid because you already get another benefit paying a higher amount. If you and your partner have both claimed or are getting Carer's Allowance, you can both get this extra amount.

Children and young people

You could get £69.98 a week for each child or young person you are responsible for who lives with you, or £81.07 for the first child if they were born before 6 April 2017. You get it until the 31 August after their 16th birthday, or their 19th birthday if they are in eligible education or training for more than 12 hours a week on average. A disabled child can add £37.93 or £118.46 a week, depending on the disability benefit they get.

Housing costs

You could get an extra amount to cover housing costs such as ground rent on a leasehold property, some service charges, and charges for tents and site rents. The amount depends on your costs.

You could get the Savings Credit part of Pension Credit if you reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 and you saved some money for retirement, for example a personal or workplace pension. You will get up to £17.96 a week if you are single, or up to £20.10 if you have a partner.

You might still get some Savings Credit even if you do not get the Guarantee Credit part. If you reached State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016, Savings Credit is not available, but Guarantee Credit still is.

You can continue to get Pension Credit if you are away from Great Britain for 4 weeks or less, for example on a holiday. You must be eligible when you go away, remain eligible while you are away, and tell the Pension Service helpline you are going.

• ✓Yes: You can get Pension Credit for up to 4 more weeks if you are away because of the death of a close relative, or a close relative dies while you are away and you cannot reasonably return to the UK
• ✓Yes: You can continue to get it for up to 26 weeks if you have left Great Britain for medical treatment, or for a period of recovery approved by a medical professional
• ✓Yes: You cannot apply for Pension Credit if you are already outside Great Britain
• ✓Yes: You cannot get Pension Credit if you are moving away from Great Britain permanently

The rules above apply in England, Scotland and Wales. In Scotland, Scottish disability benefits such as Adult Disability Payment and Pension Age Disability Payment count for the severe disability amount, and are not counted as income.

In Northern Ireland, you must live in Northern Ireland and have reached State Pension age. The savings rule, the partner rules and the rates are the same, and the four week limit for time away is measured from Northern Ireland rather than Great Britain. You claim through the Northern Ireland Pension Centre, which is run by the Department for Communities.