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UC to pension and pension credit
I know this has been discussed before at some length but I’ve overthought it and confused myself.
Person is on UC and turns pension age part way through an AP. When should they make their claims for pension and pension credit and how is their UC affected in the final AP?
From our UC factsheet:
Transferring from UC to PC
If you expect to be entitled to PC once you reach State Pension age, you can make an advance PC claim up to four months early so that it starts the day you reach State Pension age.
You should receive a final UC payment for the entire assessment period (see section 4) in which you reach State Pension age and then your UC claim ends. This final payment is disregarded when assessing your PC entitlement.
If you do not make an advance PC claim, your UC award should end at the end of the assessment period in which you reach State Pension age. You should report you have reached State Pension age to DWP.
Thank you so much Paul - exactly the information I needed!
I have just helped a formerly mixed-age couple claim HB, as the younger partner reached pension age on 14/10/22. Their UC assessment period runs from 20th-19th each month so the last UC AP should have been the 20/09/22 - 19/10/22. We logged into UC together to gather a statement from this AP, and strangely enough the UC claim has not ended and there is a calc for the subsequent AP which is 20/10/22 - 19/11/22. There were no ramifications for my client because hers and her partner’s state pensions added together exceeded their max UC so the UC award was nil; but you can imagine a scenario where someone has a low income and is then overpaid UC if their award isn’t ended when they reach pension age. We wrote a message asking for their UC claim to be ended as both are pension age.
I see your factsheet, Paul, advises claimants to tell the DWP they’ve reached State Pension Age - I hadn’t realised they would need to. It’s bizarre to me that this is not an automated feature of UC?
From our UC factsheet:
Transferring from UC to PC
If you expect to be entitled to PC once you reach State Pension age, you can make an advance PC claim up to four months early so that it starts the day you reach State Pension age.You should receive a final UC payment for the entire assessment period (see section 4) in which you reach State Pension age and then your UC claim ends. This final payment is disregarded when assessing your PC entitlement.
If you do not make an advance PC claim, your UC award should end at the end of the assessment period in which you reach State Pension age. You should report you have reached State Pension age to DWP.
Sorry - can I just check, if their state pension starts during the final UC AP is it taken into account as income?
Yes, it is deducted from the final UC AP, although for unearned income (state pension, ESA-C, etc.) received for part of a month, it is deducted as a pro rata calculation for the number of days in the AP it was in payment.
So - my client received her state pension starting on 14/10 and the UC AP ended 19/10; in practice very little state pension was deducted as only 6 days’ worth fell to be deducted.
The formula can be found here:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/regulation/73
Yes, it is deducted from the final UC AP, although for unearned income (state pension, ESA-C, etc.) received for part of a month, it is deducted as a pro rata calculation for the number of days in the AP it was in payment.
So - my client received her state pension starting on 14/10 and the UC AP ended 19/10; in practice very little state pension was deducted as only 6 days’ worth fell to be deducted.The formula can be found here:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/regulation/73
Exellent, thanks.
II see your factsheet, Paul, advises claimants to tell the DWP they’ve reached State Pension Age - I hadn’t realised they would need to. It’s bizarre to me that this is not an automated feature of UC?
We used to see a lot of cases like yours but after lobbying DWP, they told us that they were putting some kind of flag on UC awards when people were approaching SPA to avoid UC awards continuing past this point.
In general, that seems to have worked but as your case illustrates, it certainly doesn’t seem to be fool-proof hence why we advise people to notify DWP just in case.
If it’s any reassurance, we’ve not heard of any cases where UC did continue in payment past SPA erroneously that DWP have chased an overpayment (but of course again, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen).
I had a case where UC continued past pension age causing huge complications for the client. UC’s response was ‘well they didn’t claim state pension’ (the client didn’t realise this needed to be claimed - & as the case from Bristol illustrates, it wouldn’t necessarily have helped if the pension had been in payment).
I’d say it’s still good practice to alert UC when you’re reaching pension age even though of course the computer ‘knows’ ....
This was quite a big overpayment but haven’t heard anything about recovery as yet Paul, so let’s hope that remains the case.
I had a case where UC continued past pension age causing huge complications for the client. UC’s response was ‘well they didn’t claim state pension’ (the client didn’t realise this needed to be claimed - & as the case from Bristol illustrates, it wouldn’t necessarily have helped if the pension had been in payment).
I’d say it’s still good practice to alert UC when you’re reaching pension age even though of course the computer ‘knows’ ....
This was quite a big overpayment but haven’t heard anything about recovery as yet Paul, so let’s hope that remains the case.
Thanks Will. I’ve left it in our training notes to tell UC which is fine for our trainees but I do wonder how on earth your average claimant would even think it possible they need to tell a DWP department which already knows their date of birth.
Following an OSEF meeting on mixed-age couples in May, DWP has told us the following about people coming up to SPA.
Q: Stakeholders wanted clarity on what DWP communication to legacy benefit claimants in advance of turning pension age says about their award. If the letter does not say the legacy benefit will end, stakeholders would like DWP to confirm whether this could be a ground for backdating UC?
A: To support all customers moving from legacy benefits to retirement pension the following steps are taken:
4 months before reaching State Pension age (SPa) HMRC issue a letter to a customer to make them aware that they are approaching SPa and can make a claim to Retirement Pension.
30 days before SPa Service Delivery (SD) colleagues receive a notification for action to be taken on the claim as the legacy benefit will end once SPa is reached. SD colleagues will contact customers where no pension details are held on DWP Internal systems for any claim to RP.
For mixed age couples SD colleagues will follow set guidance and contact the customer to advise of next steps – 3 attempts to contact the customer will be made over a 48-hour period.
If SD are unable to contact the customer a letter UCFS280 is issued to the customer – this letter states that ESA will stop and dates are input of when legacy benefit will be paid up to, there are also drop downs for the reasons why .
I wasn’t at the meeting and it doesn’t look like the issue of people on UC nearing SPA was specifically addressed as part of the discussion so will go back to them to seek some clarity their policies and procedures here as well.
Update on my case. UC are seeking recovery of the overpayment!
Following a complaint about why UC continued past the AP in which the client reached pension age, they said there was an internal issue meaning some clients’ claims were not automatically stopped when they reached pension age…
Which is about as much as we already knew!
Of course we will be seeking a waiver of the op, so we’ll see what happens with that.
Update on my case. UC are seeking recovery of the overpayment!
Following a complaint about why UC continued past the AP in which the client reached pension age, they said there was an internal issue meaning some clients’ claims were not automatically stopped when they reached pension age…
Which is about as much as we already knew!
Of course we will be seeking a waiver of the op, so we’ll see what happens with that.
Oh no, that’s not good news at all, best of luck with the waiver request Will, let us know how you get on.
Hello, am jumping on an old thread.
My client reached SRP age in March. She does not speak any English. She is a single claimant and did not claim her pension, GPC or HB. UC has continued in payment. When she claims SRP, GPC, HB and asks for backdating, this will create a recoverable overpayment of UC. SRP will be deducted pro rata from the date of her birthday and then going forwards until the UC award ends. I am assuming the whole UC award will be overpaid from the start of the AP after the one in which she reached SRP age. Is this correct? Or will the HB/GPC be ignored for the rest of the period of the UC payment?
https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/17582/
‘Neither HB nor SPC will affect the UC assessment, nor will UC affect the SPC/HB assessment. State Pension will in theory be counted as income in the final UC month, but it seems that in practice DWP does not normally bother with this if the SRP is not actually paid until after the UC claim closes: ‘https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/16836
Many thanks.
Hello, am jumping on an old thread.
My client reached SRP age in March. She does not speak any English. She is a single claimant and did not claim her pension, GPC or HB. UC has continued in payment. When she claims SRP, GPC, HB and asks for backdating, this will create a recoverable overpayment of UC. SRP will be deducted pro rata from the date of her birthday and then going forwards until the UC award ends. I am assuming the whole UC award will be overpaid from the start of the AP after the one in which she reached SRP age. Is this correct? Or will the HB/GPC be ignored for the rest of the period of the UC payment?
https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/17582/
‘Neither HB nor SPC will affect the UC assessment, nor will UC affect the SPC/HB assessment. State Pension will in theory be counted as income in the final UC month, but it seems that in practice DWP does not normally bother with this if the SRP is not actually paid until after the UC claim closes: ‘https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/16836
Many thanks.
Sorry as I am about to leave for the day but just to say your client has been overpaid UC since they reached SPA if they are single, regardless of what State Pension etc they might subsequently be paid.
A basic condition of UC entitlement is that you are not over SPA, so although the DWP have made the mistake, any overpayment is potentially recoverable from your client.
Thanks Paul, I understand that, I can’t remember what I was thinking now. Will the overpayment date from the start of the first AP after she reached SRP age?