Thinking about when I retire and how my pension pot will effect my benefits

david632

hello

Iam 57 and looking into taking my 25% out of my pension pot, this is were iam thinking about how my pot will effect me getting any benefits, my pot isn't that big and its forecast to give me £135 a month for life or I can take it in lump sums before I retire which will impact me now with UC , I really stuck on what to do , if i have take the £135 a month for life will this stop me claiming help with my rent and council tax ? Any help appreciated

Kimi87

Pension income is treated as unearned income for UC, so it's deducted in full from your total UC award each month.

Unless you live in sheltered or supported housing currently you are getting Housing Element via UC.

So £135 would be taken off your UC award, but financially you won't be worse off as that £135 is replaced by your pension income.

Once state pension age you will swap to Housing Benefit, yes this would probably impact the level of hb you are awarded.

Council Tax Reduction is decided on at a local level, so we can't advise on individual cases from here.

You could try a benefits calculator, filling it once with your current circumstances including the pension income, and once with a different date of birth as though you were already retired and on state pension.

https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators