What can I claim over state pension age?
Eight questions, for you or for a parent. See what Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax help could come to, and how each is worked out.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. 2026/27 figures, checked 28 October 2026.
1Where do you live?
2Who is it for?
3Income a week
State pension, other pensions and any earnings, after tax. Leave out Attendance Allowance, PIP and Disability Living Allowance: they don't count. A pension you could take but haven't still counts.
4Savings and investments
Not the home you live in, or pension pots. Up to £10,000 isn't counted at all, and there's no upper limit for Pension Credit.
5Your home
The yearly bill, after any discounts.
6Help with personal care
Washing, dressing, eating, or someone keeping an eye on you. Terminally ill counts as day and night. DLA care counts at the middle or highest rate.
7Who else lives there?
8Caring for someone
About £11,297 a year, if Attendance Allowance is awarded. Without it, about £54.50 a week.
Pension Credit
£17.96 a week
- Pension Credit tops income up to £238 a week.
- Your income counts as £238: £230 a week, plus £8 for savings over £10,000 (£1 for every £500 or part of it).
- That's over the £238 line, so there's no Guarantee Credit.
- Savings Credit, for reaching state pension age before 6 April 2016: £17.96 a week.
If Attendance Allowance is awarded, Pension Credit becomes £104.01 a week: the severe disability extra of £86.05 is added to the line.
- You can have savings and own your home and still get Pension Credit.
- Even a small amount opens the door to the extras below.
- A claim can be backdated 3 months.
Attendance Allowance
£76.70 a week to claim
- You may be able to claim Attendance Allowance: £76.70 a week.
- It isn't means tested: income and savings don't count.
- It doesn't have to be spent on care, and nobody has to be caring for you.
- The help has to have been needed for at least 6 months.
Council Tax Reduction
£1,900 a year
- Your income for it is £255.96 a week, with Savings Credit, not over the £256 allowance, so it can pay the whole bill: £1,900 a year.
Living alone, Council Tax is 25% less (single person discount). If the bill doesn't show it, the council can add it.
With Pension Credit, also
- Warm Home Discount: £150 off the electricity bill this winter, if you're named on the bill.
- A free TV licence, worth £180 a year. You apply for it: it isn't automatic.
- Cold Weather Payments: £25 for each 7 days of freezing weather, 1 November to 31 March, paid automatically.
- Help with NHS dental treatment, glasses and travel to hospital appointments.
Every winter
Winter Fuel Payment: £200 for your household this winter, usually paid automatically. It's taken back through tax if your own income is over £35,000.
Carers
- If someone starts being paid Carer's Allowance for looking after you, the severe disability extra goes down or stops.
Good to know
- There's no savings limit for Pension Credit. Over £10,000, each £500 counts as £1 a week of income. Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction stop at £16,000 unless Guarantee Credit is paid.
- Money given away, or spent to get under a limit, can be counted as if you still had it (deprivation of capital). Paying off a debt or buying something reasonable, such as a replacement car, usually isn't counted.
- The home you live in isn't counted. A second home or land is.
- Not included here: help with ground rent or service charges, Support for Mortgage Interest (a loan), children, and other adults who pay towards the home.
- These are estimates from the figures typed in. The Pension Service and your council work out the real amounts.
How to claim
Plan the rest of retirement too: open the calculator. Also: State pension age, Who pays for the care home?
For illustration only. This calculator lets you look at your own figures. It doesn't give financial advice. Before acting on anything here, get free, impartial guidance from Pension Wise, or speak to a regulated financial adviser.