Sneaked in under the radar: cuts to State Pension Credit

[antone]

While we were all watching the Brexit farce:

State Pension Credit will no longer be available to claimants whose partner is under state pension age

Thousands of poorer UK pensioners who have partners of working age could lose up to £7,000 a year in top-ups as a result of imminent rule changes that will require them to claim universal credit as a couple.

Changes slipped out on Monday night by the Department for Work and Pensions mean that from 15 May, new pensioners whose partners are younger than the state retirement age of 65 can no longer claim a means-tested top-up called pension credit.

Instead they will be forced to claim the much less generous universal credit alongside their younger partners.

[brassnecked]

Plain nasty. Bet they would Sanction the younger partner also if they couldn;t find work

[tomtom256]

Its not nasty, why should a 50 year old who is married to a 65 year old be paid for by the state, when in theory they could still work and who may have in the past given up work at that age just because they could be on a joint PC claim.

Besides they are trying to do away with PC anyway and just have the new state pension for all.