Good morning everyone, happy new year.

I have a client who has recently claimed PC. Her income is £170 per week and she receives mortgage interest payments of £82 per week. She receives £42 guarantee credit and £20.40 savings credit.

However she has recently applied for some help towards service charges on the property and she has been told that because she is not actually entitled to PC's (housing costs bring her into PC entitlement) she will not receive help towards service charges.

I cannot find any specific mention of this in either cpag or disability rights handbook, can anyone confirm if she is excluded on these grounds?

Thanks

Sounds absolute rubbish to me. Service charges that are eligible under para 13 of Schedule 2 to the State Pension Credit Regulations are added as a weekly equivalent to the standard minimum guarantee credit under regulation 6(6). Your client is entitled to the guarantee pension credit anyway, but if the guarantee credit is paid to the mortgage lender, she will not notice any change in her weekly income, so to speak.. What will then happen (i.e. if payments direct to mortgage lender) depends on the level of eligible service charges. Say they are £15 per week. On your figures, the guarantee credit level for your client will then be £227. As her income is £170, the actual guarantee credit entitlement will be £57 instead of £42. However, as this is still less than the element for mortgage interest, this will result in more money going to the mortgage lender. Your client will have to pay £15 less per week out of her own income towards the mortgage, which can then be used for the service charge