My wife will get her state pension in November 2021. How will this affect my benefits?

murph57

My wife will get her state pension November 2021,how will this affect my benefits e.g carers allowance,income support and housing benefit & council tax reduction

poppy123456

HI,

You are classed as a mixed aged couple which will mean you will need to claim Universal Credit for help with your rent. Your wifes State Pension will be deducted in full from any UC entitlement. Whether there will be any entitlement to UC will depend on your circumstances and how much your wife's state pension will be.

Does your wife claim PIP or DLA and if so what award does she currently have?

wilko

@murph57, hello and welcome.I was claiming ESA snd was advised by the CAB to claim UC before my retirement date which was 4 days away. Any we are now receiving UC and as @poppy123456 has stated deductions are made reference, my pension Carer’s allowance and my legacy ESA benefit.so from an allowance of £1640 after deductions we get a grand total of £458 which will be reduced after the UC uplift removed this month. Still get council tax reduction.

poppy123456

wilko said:

@murph57, hello and welcome.I was claiming ESA snd was advised by the CAB to claim UC before my retirement date which was 4 days away. Any we are now receiving UC and as @poppy123456 has stated deductions are made reference, my pension Carer’s allowance and my legacy ESA benefit.so from an allowance of £1640 after deductions we get a grand total of £458 which will be reduced after the UC uplift removed this month. Still get council tax reduction.

Your circumstances at the time you claimed UC were different because you were claiming ESA and you were in one of the groups. Your ESA award would have transferred to UC, which is why you were advised to claim UC before you reached Stae pension age.

The OP claims Income Support so their circumstances are very different. The LCWRA element will not automatically be added if the wife isn't claiming either high rate DLA care or Enhanced daily living PIP.

calcotti

poppy123456 said: You are classed as a mixed aged couple which will mean you will need to claim Universal Credit for help with your rent. 

Further information is needed to assess this.

OP
Are you younger than your wife?
Are you the IS claimant?

If the answer to both these questions is yes (which I infer it is from the way your question is phrased), although you will become a mixed age couple, you can remain on your existing benefits until you in turn reach pension age.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-benefit-adjudication-circulars-2019/a92019-mixed-age-couples-further-guidance

Your wife's pension income will be taken into account in full but the calculation of your IS maximum entitlement will include an additional amount known as a pensioner premium.

calcotti

I should have added that provided you are still eligible for some IS you will continue to be entitled to maximum HB and CTR. Whether or not there is IS entitlement will depend on how much pension your wife receives.

It think it unlikely that you would be better off if you chose to claim UC (even if your wife would be found to have Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity) but you would need a full benefits check to confirm whether or not this is the case.