I'm 83 and disabled, so why don't I get help with energy bills? STEVE WEBB flags little-known pension credit boost

Steve Webb flags an important boost to pension credit if you are disabled or a carer – find out how to qualify below

I worked from 17 to 74 paying full National Insurance until I was 60.

My friend worked part-time and she gets pension credit with all its perks.

She is better off than me with her free council tax, BBC licence, winter fuel payment and warm home discount.

I have osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, and because I am just over the limit for any benefits will not qualify for any help with my heating this winter.

I will be in agony if it gets very, very cold and I think the system is badly flawed and needs looking at again.

How can it be fair that I left my children with childminders (which I paid for), and someone like my friend who looked after her own children and worked part-time sometimes is much better off than me.

I had a free TV licence and they even took that away after two years. I saved for a small private pension and I pay tax on it.

It seems to me that you are better off in this country if you don’t work, which is not sending out a good signal to our youngsters at all.

I am a very very disgruntled 83-year-old disabled lady, who is going to suffer very badly in the cold weather this year and probably next year too if I make it through this winter.

SCROLL DOWN TO FIND OUT HOW TO ASK STEVE YOUR PENSION QUESTION

Steve Webb replies: You have raised an important point about the fairness of a system which provides a series of additional benefits to those who claim pension credit but withdraws many of them completely from those who may only have a few pounds above this ‘cliff edge’ cut-off point.

This is a problem which has got worse as first free TV licences (for the over 75s) and now Winter Fuel Payments have been added to the list of benefits which only go to those on pension credit.

One potential reform which would reduce this unfairness would be to withdraw this additional help gradually (rather than suddenly) as income rises.

But the Government has probably decided that this would be administratively complex and might suffer from even worse issues of non take-up than the current pension credit system.

I have no doubt that many thousands of the people missing out on pension credit are disabled people and carers who are simply not aware they can get it at a much higher income level than other groups

I do, however, want to make you and other readers aware of two ways in which those whose income is above the basic pension credit level may still qualify for this extra help.

For a single person, the main rate of pension credit is currently £218.15 per week, and for a couple it is £332.95.

If you have household income below this level you can qualify for a top-up through pension credit.

However, what many people may not be aware of is that disabled people and carers may qualify for pension credit if they have an income *above* those headline figures.

The reason for this is that people on certain disability benefits or carers may qualify for ‘premiums’ on the main pension credit rate, allowing them to qualify for benefit at higher income levels.

The key points are below, and visit Gov.uk’s pension credit section.

For disabled people there is a ‘severe disability premium’ which moves the pension credit line up to £299.65 for a single person; you qualify if you get any of the following:

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– Attendance Allowance

– The middle or highest rate from the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

– The daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

– Armed Forces Independence Payment

– The daily living component of Adult Disability Payment (ADP) at the standard or enhanced rate

For carers, there is a ‘carers premium’ which moves the pension credit line up to £263.75 for a single person; you qualify if you:

– Get Carer’s Allowance

– Get Carer Support Payment

– Have claimed Carer’s Allowance but are not being paid because you already get another benefit paying a higher amount

One important point to bear in mind for disabled people is that when DWP assesses your income against these higher levels (£299.65 for a disabled single person), they ignore your income from disability benefits.

So, it is your income excluding any disability benefits which you should compare with these cut-off points.

It is also important to note that someone who was a carer before they were of pension age, and who lost their carer’s allowance when their state pension started, can still qualify for the carer’s premium on pension credit, provided they still meet the other conditions for carer’s allowance.

In your case, if you were not on any disability benefit before you reached pension age, then your main option would be to claim Attendance Allowance if you have care needs.

Read This is Money guides to claiming benefits

If you were successful in applying for this benefit this would not only boost your weekly income but it would also qualify you for the much higher pension credit level set out above.

People can check if they might be entitled by using the government’s pension credit calculator.

And for those who might be put off by answering a lot of questions on a paper form, it is possible to claim on the phone by calling 0800 99 1234 or online at: Pension credit: How to claim.

I have no doubt that many thousands of the 880,000 people that the DWP says are missing out on pension credit are disabled people and carers who are simply not aware that they can get pension credit at a much higher income level than other groups.

I hope that some will read this column and put in an application.

Ask Steve Webb a pension question

Former pensions minister Steve Webb is This Is Money’s agony uncle.

He is ready to answer your questions, whether you are still saving, in the process of stopping work, or juggling your finances in retirement.

Steve left the Department for Work and Pensions after the May 2015 election. He is now a partner at actuary and consulting firm Lane Clark & Peacock.

If you would like to ask Steve a question about pensions, please email him at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk.

Steve will do his best to reply to your message in a forthcoming column, but he won’t be able to answer everyone or correspond privately with readers. Nothing in his replies constitutes regulated financial advice. Published questions are sometimes edited for brevity or other reasons.

Please include a daytime contact number with your message – this will be kept confidential and not used for marketing purposes.

If Steve is unable to answer your question, you can also contact MoneyHelper, a Government-backed organisation which gives free assistance on pensions to the public. It can be found here and its number is 0800 011 3797.

Steve receives many questions about state pension forecasts and COPE – the Contracted Out Pension Equivalent. If you are writing to Steve on this topic, he responds to a typical reader question about COPE and the state pension here.

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I’m 83 and disabled, so why don’t I get help with energy bills? STEVE WEBB flags little-known pension credit boost