Pension Credit stopped

Funnyface

Hi, I am the registered. unpaid carer of my partner, who was until recently receiving the higher rate of DLA. I am not sure quite what he was receiving, but it was enough to qualify for a Blue Badge and a mobility car. He has just been told he no longer qualifies for PIP, as his score was too low. He has sent off a reconsideration form, but has also discovered that he has noty been paid his Pension Credit, the last payment was on 3rd April this year. He phoned Pension Credit to say he had not been paid, and had no letter to explain why. He was then referred to the "change of circumstances" department, but nobody seems to know why his PC payments were stopped about 4 weeks ago without notice, and before his DLA to PIPS assessment results were announced by letter. What Im asking, on his behalf, is it usual for Pension Credit to be stopped in this way, as a result of the DLA being stopped? I always thought that PC was means-tested so would have nought to do with DLA or PIPs entitlement. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Alex

Hi @Funnyface,

Welcome to the community. Sorry to hear about what's happened.

I've moved your post to our benefits advisor category to see if they can help. 

Funnyface

Aww sorry, I went in the wrong forum, thanks for swapping me, Alex!

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi Funnyface,

It is not normally the case that the ceasing of a DLA claim would cause a Pension Credit claim to end HOWEVER Pension is calculated with reference to many things, and it is therefore not impossible.

If you're living with your partner, then it is unlikely that he would be receiving a 'Severe Disability Premium' on his Pension Credit, but he may have been receiving an 'Enhanced Disability Premium', and if his award of Pension Credit was only small, then the ceasing of the DLA could indeed have caused it to stop.

From the dates you have mentioned however, I am minded to think that these may be two unrelated (just unfortunately co-ordinated) incidents... Any chance that your partner has some kind of private pension or state pension that was due to come into fruition this April?? That tends to be one of the main reasons Pension Credit suddenly ends. If this is the case, then he should have noticed this hitting his bank somewhere, but (a) payments of the new pension may be taking a while to come through, or (b) the Pension Services belief about this other income may be incorrect.

Unfortunately I don't have enough information to really speculate further than that, but what I would say is that you MUST chase the Pension Service and get to the bottom of it - change of circs is probably the right department, but you just need to really press them for an explanation, ask to speak to managers etc. If you don't feel confident to do this, try seeking assistance from a local agency such as a CAB, Welfare Rights, Age UK, etc A specialist with you and the papers in front of the them may also be able to figure it out!

Good luck!

Kind regards,

Mary