ELDERLY

Housing Benefits Housing Benefit helps pay your rent if you are a tenant. Housing Benefit could not only reduce your rent but also cover some service charges like lifts and communal laundry facilities. You normally need to have less than £16,000 in savings, unless you get the Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit in which case there is no savings limit. Failure- Up to 380,000 older people who are entitled to Housing Benefit are not claiming it. Many elderly people don’t claim benefits as they are too proud and don’t want to be seen as needing help.

Pension Credits 2.7 million households across the UK claim it. Guarantee Credit (tops up your weekly income to a guaranteed minimum level set up the Government) and Savings Credit (extra money for people who have an income higher than the Basic State Pension or who have a small amount of savings) Pension Credit includes help towards mortgage payments and service charges for home owners and extra money for people who receive Carers Allowance or disability benefits. About 4 million older people are entitled to pension credits, yet 1 in 3 are still not claiming it.

Disability allowance You can claim if: you have a physical or mental disability, or both. If your disability is severe enough for you to need help caring for yourself or you have walking difficulties, or both. If you are aged 65 and over you may be able to claim Attendance Allowance as well. There are two weekly rates: £73.60 if you need help both in the day and at night. £49.30 if you need help in the day or at night. £1.8 million elderly people are claiming this in the UK, which is costing the government £5.4 billion a year. Failure- Many people are not claiming as they don’t know about, don’t know how to claim or are being rejected by the Department of Work and Pensions.

Attendance Allowance You must need care because of illness or disability (either physical or mental) and be aged 65 or more. The rate that you may get depends on whether you need care during the day, during the night, or both. Higher rate - £73.60 per week. Lower rate - £49.30 per week. Failure- £4.6 billion worth of benefits aimed at pensioners go unclaimed annually, often due to pensioners not being able to access information. A lack of online access can reduce the chances of the elderly finding out about their benefit entitlement or that they are entitled to a higher level of benefit than they currently receive. Success- helps the elderly pay for care that they need, such as, bathing, eating, drinking, using the toilet, taking medication or getting dressed.

Free Eye Tests If you are aged 60 and over you are entitled to free eye tests. You may also get a free voucher towards the cost of glasses if you, or your partner receives, Pension Credit Guarantee Credit. Free eye tests means the NHS saves £17,646 a year per person. 270,000 pensioners have had serious falls caused by poor sight since in 10 elderly people don’t go for regular eye tests as they are concerned about the cost of glasses, showing the voucher towards glasses is very beneficial.

Winter Fuel Allowance Every winter in the UK, there are more than 200 deaths per day as a result of the cold weather. The Winter Fuel Payment is a tax free payment to help older people keep warm during winter. It is provided by the government to those who are eligible. If you were born on or before 5 January 1951 you may qualify. Failure- As it is not means tested- everyone receives it, which means people who don’t need it are even better off than those who do. If an elderly person live alone they will receive £200. A couple will receive £100. However, if you receive Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or income related Employment and Support Allowance you do not qualify. People over the age of 80 you can receive up to £100 more: an elderly living alone will receive £300 and a couple over 80 will receive £150.