Bus passes

It depends when he was born. roses.

I know no one seems to want to read my CAB post, but it does set out the criteria for bus pass eligibility!

If NickiC59' DH became 65 in, say, May of this year then he wouldn't have been entitled to a pass when he was 60...

Yes he would, Ana. Not on his 60th birthday, but just a month or two later. There's a calculator on the GOV.UK site.

We both have our Freedom Passes and use them frequently especially as it gives us free travel on the tube also here in London..

If you are on DLA, or PIP now ( is anyone yet?), you can have one before you are sixty. You can also have a carer go free.

www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension/y/age/male

It only took me 15 minutes to work out how to post a link from my phone.

We live in Merseyside and our Merseytravel website says: You can travel free on buses, trains and Mersey Ferries if you are over 60 and live in Merseyside. When you reach the State Pension age, you will be given a new national pass, which you will also be able to use on local bus services anywhere in England.
My DH got his when he was 60, even though he was working then. No doubt they'll change the rules before I get to 60!

Well, I've just completed the questions on your link, Maggiemaybe, giving a hypothetical date of birth for a man of 14th May 1950 and it states that he reached retirement age on 14th May 2015.

So he wouldn't have been entitled to a bus pass at 60.

If you scroll just below the pension age, Ana, it gives the bus pass age. They're different for men.

6 July 2010 is the date on which someone in England with that birthday would have become entitled to the free bus pass.

I don't agree, Maggie. I entered the details as a man. In England. The answer was that the hypothetical man born on 14th May 1950 would have become entitled to state pension and bus pass on 14th May 2015.

I don't know how we're getting such different answers!

Now I see, having done it again.

Your date is the one applicable for a woman, Maggie, not a man.

www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension/y/age/male/1950-05-14

I'm hoping this link works, Ana! It should show State Pension Age, then a paragraph about Pension Credit, then you get the Bus Pass heading with the date 6 July 2010.

Fingers crossed. If it doesn't work, I'm giving up and hitting the .

I won't get my bus pass until I am 66
my birthday is 28th October 1955
live in Lancashire.

Oh Bliley, cross posts Ana! The bus pass age is the same for men and women, as it's linked to the woman's state pension age. As it says in your earlier link.

Or blimey, even. Who the heck is Bliley??!

OK I admit it, you are right and I was wrong! I was concentrating on the 'retirement age' and didn't scroll down to see the bit about bus passes - sorry .

I can only assume the OP's DH didn't apply using the correct form, although you'd think the LA would have put him right on how he should have gone about it.

That doesn't seem right, biker! Over to you, Maggiemaybe...

Wouldn't you? He's missed out on a lot of free travel. It's opened up a whole new world to my DH - he loves the goings on on our local bus!

Oh, it is right, unfortunately. I'm 1955 too and don't get my pension or my bus pass till I'm 66, even though I have 41 years of contributions already. Don't get me started....

I was 60 in 2003, and hubby in 2004, we didn`t get the bus passes automatically, we had to apply, but all it entailed was turning up at the Municipal Buildings, complete with birth certificate, getting photo taken, and voila, I was handed my bus pass! Nowadays I`m told we have to apply to the County Council in Lincoln, it`s not done locally anymore.

AS Ana said, it depends on when you were born.

Here in N.Ireland I got my bus pass 6 years ago when I was 60 and this covers the whole of the UK. At 65 this converted to a Smart Pass which includes the Republic of Ireland.

DH was born in 1953, he's 61 and won't get government pension until he's 65. But he did get his bus pass at 60. If we decide to go to Dublin which is over the border then DH has to pay the partial fare once we hit the border.

Bus pass also covers the train service.

It is state pension age. I was 60 yrs and 11 months but you have to be much older than that now. You won't get one unless you apply.

I will repeat myself. It states on the Oxford County Council website that for men and women, it is the women's state pension age that determines bus pass entitlement, there is an on line calculator too. If Nicki's husband is already 65, he is now eligible, but has to apply.