Will Pension Credit Savings Credit give you access to Support with Mortgage Interest

I have a client that has Pension Credit Saving Credit only.  It use to be that it was the only claimant’s that had the guarantee element were able to apply for Support with Mortgage Interest but now i can only find reference to people in receipt of Pension Credit and it does not seem to differentiate between the two who can claim SMI.

Is anyone able to confirm whether Support with Mortgage Interest is now available to claimants in receipt of Pension Credit Saving Credit only, please.

Many thanks.

As with ESA, PC is one benefit with two distinct parts, Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit.

In the interpretation reg of the SMI regs, it states:

“SPC claimant” means a claimant who is entitled to state pension credit;

Reg.3 stipulates when a SMI loan can be offered and holds:

The offer of loan payments
3.—(1) The Secretary of State may make an offer of loan payments to a claimant in respect of any owner-occupier payments the claimant is, or is to be treated as, liable to make in respect of the accommodation which the claimant is, or is to be treated as, occupying as the claimant’s home, unless paragraph (4) applies.

(a)owner-occupier payments are—
(i)in the case of a legacy benefit claimant or SPC claimant, payments within the meaning of Part 1 of Schedule 1;
(ii)in the case of a UC claimant, payments within the meaning of Part 2 of Schedule 1;
(b)the circumstances in which a claimant is, or is to be treated as, liable to make owner-occupier payments are—
(i)in the case of a legacy benefit claimant or SPC claimant, the circumstances specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2;

So entitlement to PC of either (or both) descriptions should be sufficient to qualify for the SMI loan payments.

I agree with Paul, however, entitlement to savings credit will never have any effect (which is probably why they didn’t bother specifying that it doesn’t count).

This is because:

1. the loan amount is always reduced by the amount of income the claimant has above the minimum guarantee, and

2. you are anyway treated as entitled to SPC where income is above the minimum guarantee, but low enough to leave some entitlement after carrying out the calculation in point 1 above.