am i being stupid or can someone tell me, a person can only receive housing costs if they are receiving the gaurantee credit part of pension credit ? ? ?

all answers truly appreciated, and enjoy the rest of your week.

pete :~)

You're not being stupid.

Housing costs form part of the MIG calculation so are directly part of the GPC sum.

The MIG is used as part of the SPC calculation and, indeed, housing costs can often cause SPC to be capped at the maximum amount or cause a poverty trap figure when a client's income is increased but net income actually falls.

now i am being stupid ...

so what you're saying is that if a persons housing costs are quite high this can cause a shortfall in overall pc because this can affect the spc ?

sorry if i am being daft

pete, and thanx for your reply, and i assume the answer to my q. was yes ... hmmmmmm .... stroke of chin

Lets take a real example

A client aged 74, income is state pension of 87.30 and private pension of 30 a week.

Has eligible housing costs of 60 a week and 25 a week CT.

Benefits entitlement is:

Guarantee Pension Credit 61.75
Savings Pension Credit 18.00
Council Tax Benefit 25.00

Total Income from all sources 222.05


If you give this person extra income (non-taxable) of 65 a week, they get benefits of:

Savings Pension Credit £17.75
Council Tax Benefit £12.61

total income from all sources 212.66

They've got an extra 65.00pw of income and they're almost 10pw worse off.

hoorah !

at last ! ! ! by jove i've got it

cheers, and enjoy the rest of your week.

pete

Just to muddy the waters further. If the above lived in Northern Ireland she would be entitled to Rate Relief of £4.96pw giving net income of £217.62 still a shortfall and not enough to make you all rush for the boats.