Your Pension …

Age UK may be able to send one of their people to see Saggi to explain what’s available and help with forms. MOnica used to do this.

Just think of the difference all that unclaimed money could have made to so many people. I wish these sort of benefits were much more widely publicised.

Saggi this is the link referred to above, it’s on page 8 of this Age UK guidance.
www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs39-paying-for-care-in-a-care-home-if-you-have-a-partner.pdf

biglouis

*My income after working 47 years and only stopping for two years( kids) is £10,080 per year. I live on a knife edge ….my husbands pensions went with him into full time care home for Alzheimer’s…. my entreaties that I still have a house to maintain and heat , fell on deaf ears! I now dont heat my home, no matter what the temperature… and sometimes don’t eat ….. I go to bed instead*

When I read things like this it makes me very angry!

We can send money abroad to sustain foreign wars and keep the invading boat people in luxury hotels but we cant pay our own (who have actually contributed to the country) to maintain a decent standard of living.

Yes, biglouis money is available.

Unless someone applies for it then the government can't pay it.
Citizens' Advice or Age UK know the right steps to take.

The DWP estimates that £1.7 billion of Pension Credit went unclaimed by up to 1 million pensioner households in the financial year 2021/22.

policyinpractice.co.uk/unclaimed-pension-credit-value-by-local-authority/

Only half of your H’s work pension should go to his care.
All of his state pension will and AA if he got it but they cannot take all his work pension.

Interesting annsixty, thank you for that information.

From GSM, obviously not form.

My income after working 47 years and only stopping for two years( kids) is £10,080 per year. I live on a knife edge ….my husbands pensions went with him into full time care home for Alzheimer’s…. my entreaties that I still have a house to maintain and heat , fell on deaf ears! I now dont heat my home, no matter what the temperature… and sometimes don’t eat ….. I go to bed instead

When I read things like this it makes me very angry!

We can send money abroad to sustain foreign wars and keep the invading boat people in luxury hotels but we cant pay our own (who have actually contributed to the country) to maintain a decent standard of living.

Germanshepherdsmum

Above all don’t be proud Saggi. You have worked for many years and are entitled to everything available.

This ^

Please re-read the above form GSM.

I will pray for you, if you don't mind.

Saggi
I had this battle with my H.
Only half of your H’s work pension should go to his care.
All of his state pension will and AA if he got it but they cannot take all his work pension.
I enlisted Age Concern who sent me leaflets.
Please contact them straightaway.
I see that Callistemon has put the leaflet number on whilst I have been posting.

Above all don’t be proud Saggi. You have worked for many years and are entitled to everything available.

I also had a quick look at the Age UK website. I can’t do links either but I think you would find it very helpful Saggi. I hope you have also got a reduction in council tax since you’ve been living alone. Please take a look and let us know how you get on. Your situation worries me.

Thank you all for your advice ….I’ve never been on a benefit so know little about them but I will look into the advice you’ve given. How kind .

Age UK
Factsheet 39
Paying for care in a care home if you have a partner
April 2022
3.4Pension credit rules
If you receive Pension Credit (PC) as a couple, your entitlement changes if one of you permanently enters residential care. The Pension Service will then treat you as two separate individuals and eligibility for PC or other benefits depends on your individual levels of income and capital.

I can't do a link to it but perhaps you can find it, Saggi. It might be worth a read.

Saggi

Has anyone looked to benefits for you?

Saggi, that's awful. I'm sure you should be entitled to some help as your income is below the necessary threshold.

Can you ask Citizens' Advice?

That’s dreadful Saggi. Have you checked whether you are entitled to any benefits? 💐

My income after working 47 years and only stopping for two years( kids) is £10,080 per year. I live on a knife edge ….my husbands pensions went with him into full time care home for Alzheimer’s…. my entreaties that I still have a house to maintain and heat , fell on deaf ears! I now dont heat my home, no matter what the temperature… and sometimes don’t eat ….. I go to bed instead!

I am able to live very comfortably on DH's works pension and the state pension. His private pension I am leaving in trust for my adult children in the hope that they can retire early. DS has been ill for the last two years with long covid and is still suffering extreme fatigue.

Many of our single friends are now having to make a concerted effort to budget wisely, after all a room heated costs the same for 1 as it does for houses with more people who may have a far higher household income. . For those fortunate enough to have savings they are now being eaten away by essentials not luxuries. Not much financial help for them either in comparason to some who have taken no financial responsibility in their lives and have an expectation that they will always be rescued. Sadly I cant see that that help will be sustainable for any one and poverty will be a far bigger problem across all households as time goes on as if it isn't bad enough for some now. Not great is it..

notgran

It's an interesting article and I read it this morning. As a couple we are doing fine and have a Rainy Day Fund each. We possibly are better off than we were when working as we have a few occupational pensions and investments between us, no mortgage payments, commuting costs etc. We are fairly careful with our spending but could do with updating our home decor etc. a bit, but then we choose to go away on trips, instead. I am surprised by the calculations shown on the chart which presumably only refer to disposable income after the essential bills have been paid.

I think those incomes are total income not after essential bills paid. If my disposable income was even close to the lower figure I'd be laughing all the way to the savings bank!

Above first tier but a long way off second. Thankfully I paid down my mortgage with my inheritance from my mum so it is quite small. I couldn't manage if I was renting! Sadly my house needs major work doing which I can't afford so will have to downsize to a cheaper area to have real security. Meanwhile I survive in the cold and damp! Just hope someone will buy it in its present state. I can't imagine how people manage on the basic state pension.

Well under the first one even with my small workplace pension. I’m 66 in April when I’ll collect my state pension but will carry on working until I drop probably.
Thank goodness I’m mortgage free.

yes I could downsize but that costs a lot too.

It does. We've looked around but by the time somewhere might need renovating plus all the removal expenses (not to mention the upheaval) it might be better to stay put and pay for some help when needed.

Callistemon21

Greyduster

Close to the second tier, and manage fine on that, but have “rainy day” money to fall back on. So far we haven’t had any rainy days🤞🏻! If that’s not tempting fate I don’t know what is!

Rainy days:

For example waiting 4 or 5 years for knee or hip replacements forces many people into paying to go privately using rainy day money or money set aside for longed-for holidays .
If they don't, then their quality of life is impaired.

this. As my dogs got older, they got more expensive, even though insured, because they needed special diets slippery floors covered and so on. It goes without saying that I didn't begrudge a penny but I was lucky to be able to afford it. Money goes out on looking after my trees and other house and garden expenses, yes I could downsize but that costs a lot too.

I’m definitely going to be on the first one- only time will tell how I cope

mrsnonsmoker

The lowest bracket - is that meant to be without housing costs? I am sure I've seen this sort of thing on here before - if you have no housing costs, i.e., you own your own freehold property, then I think the £1k a month or thereabouts is doable. That's where I hope to be in a few years time - I'll get my state pension and a small private pension of about £2,500 a year. However, that means I won't qualify for pension credits. And of course there's still all your utilities and council tax. Also if you are in a leasehold you might have quite high service charges and ground rent.

I saw a thread on here before Christmas that really made me cross; a retired/about to retire poster saying that after all outgoings her and her husband ONLY had £3k in cash each month and wondering if she'd be ok, would they manage on that ... (they owned 2 properties if I remember rightly). A couple of people (not many) said well of course you can afford to live on that, and then the poster was like "oh poor me, I was only asking" - that sort of attitude. I think to call it disingenuous is being polite!

There is no pension credit with new state pension...so withoit your private pension you would be worse off