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More On State Pension And Pension Credit.

Excellent blog from long time reader and supporter of my blog. You can find his blog over at thephisophicalmusehttp://thephisophicalmuse Thanks Mike!


I was started receiving Pension Credit at age 60 after having been on JSA for 18 months (sanctioned for the last 2 months). When I applied I was asked how I had learned about Pension Credit and I replied that DWP had told me 6 months previously that I would have a choice of staying on JSA or switching to Pension Credit – I would have been foolish to continue looking for work and receive half as much money even if I hadn’t been sanctioned!

I still receive some Pension Credit to top up my State Pension, but Independent Age https://www.independentage.org/ is campaigning to ensure more people are advised of their entitlement

I used to work for the Department of Social Security in Australia. If someone over 55 had been unemployed for 6 months they’ld receive Mature Age Allowance, which basically acknowledged that they were unlikely to find a job so were not expected to continue looking for one to continue receiving the same benefits.

Seems similar to what I found in U.K., except that I had to wait 5 years longer to qualify but got twice as much as on JSA.

As part of my last job I was required to attend a training session on pensions and was told that one needed to be paying National Insurance for most of our lives to qualify for state pension. I piped up and said, “Where does that leave me, I’ve been out of the country for 27 years?”

I got some attention as I was quite evidently closer to retirement age than anyone in the room, but I didn’t get an answer!

No chance of me building up a pension fund, I had to wait until after I retired to find that I would be entitled to State Pension because of a reciprocal agreement with the Australian government – not the full amount, but Pension Credit makes up the difference.

WASPI women should be complaining that their pension age was to be increased to 65, not that they didn’t have sufficient notification of the increase.

What does it matter if they tell you they’re gonna raise your pension age in 10 years time, unless you’re within 10 years of pension age?

We need to stop of thinking of ourselves and ask why anyone should be required to work beyond 60 years of age unless they choose to!

Those of us already retired can ask these questions because we’ve got nothing to lose, do we?

The triple lock on our pensions cannot be assured under a Tory government. Everyone should join a union, I joined Unite Community after I retired ✊

9 thoughts on “More On State Pension And Pension Credit.”

  1. Pingback: More On State Pension And Pension Credit. | sdbast

  2. Whaaat? So I can get Pension Credit instead of JSA? Why hasn’t anyone told me about this? I was under the impression that you can’t claim Pension Credit until you are in receipt of the State Pension, i.e. not until you have Retired.

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    2. As I mentioned in my original blog Trev, DWP did inform me that I could claim when I was coming up to 60 but it appears that many people are now missing out because they’re not informed. Hence Independent Age’s campaign.

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      1. I’m pretty sure they changed the rules regarding claiming Pension Credit a few years back. You did used to be able to claim it at 60, but you do now need to be of State Pension Age. At the same time they made it that if you have a ‘difference’ age couple the oldest retired one also can no longer claim Pension Credit until the youngest one reaches State Pension Age.

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      2. Thanks all, it’s a tantalising thought that gives one hope but I reckon it’s been changed. Nonetheless I will enquire next week when I have my jobcentre appointment. This is something that Labour could change back if the will was there (if they ever get in power) as it surely makes more sense than cruelly forcing older people to remain in the job market on conditional out-of-work Benefits. But where the Tories are concerned it never was about doing the sensible thing or helping people, it was an act of Class War aimed at punishing the poor.

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