Our Financial Inclusion service – helping you through change
Retiring can be a major upheaval, not least for your finances. The benefits that you may be entitled to will change, and this can feel like a minefield.
Recently our Welfare Benefits Officer came to the assistance of a lady in Peebles who was having some difficulty. When Mrs Scott retired last year, she was told that she might be entitled to help with her rent, but was having difficulty with claiming.
She says: “I was being told to go online and fill out a form – but I’m not online, and wasn’t able to do this. And because of the pandemic, I couldn’t just go to somebody’s house for help, to use their pc. My rent was falling behind – it was very stressful.”
Mrs Scott’s Housing Officer referred her to the FIS team for assistance. When Welfare Benefits Officer Debbie Mzee got involved, she was able to help Mrs Scott to get the right application form and to fill it out – and also managed to help her claim backdated Housing Benefit of £1300, clearing her arrears.
Debbie says: “If you’ve reached pension age, there may be some benefits that you’re entitled to claim, that you’re not aware of. Get in touch with us – we can advise. We can also help you with the application, particularly if you’re struggling with the online aspect.”
Each year, millions of pounds worth of benefits go unclaimed. Benefits worth looking into are:
State pension
Pension credit
Housing Benefit/Council Tax reduction*
Attendance Allowance (changing to pension age disability payment)
Carers Allowance
Winter fuel payment
Warm Home Discount
Help with health costs
Buses passes/blue badge
You can find out more about some of these here – https://www.ageuk.org.uk/scotland/information-advice/money-matters/benefits/
You can also contact Debbie Mzee, SBHA’s Welfare Benefits Officer for an informal chat. Call 01750 724444 to make an appointment.
Mrs Scott says: “It’s such a relief. The team at SBHA were lovely. They took the time to explain everything – they were just really, really helpful.”
*Important benefits rules to be aware of
Benefits for couples
Generally when you reach state pension age you’ll stop receiving working-age benefits and start receiving pension-age benefits instead, which are usually higher. In the past, couples were eligible to receive pension-age benefits as soon as the eldest partner reached state pension age. However, the rules changed in 2019.
Since May 2019 couples have only been eligible for pension-age benefits once both of them have reached state pension age. This means that so-called ‘mixed age’ couples – where one partner is above state pension age and the other is below – will have to claim Universal Credit, which is often worth less, instead of Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit.
The changes should generally affect new claimants only, but couples’ eligibility can also be affected in some other circumstances, such as if a claim for Pension Credit is interrupted or they move to a different area.
- Find out more: State pension benefits cut for couples: are you affected?