Pension Credit Calculator

Pension Credit Rates 2026/27 vs 2025/26

Weekly rates from the DWP Benefit and pension rates publication. The standard minimum guarantee rose 4.8% in April 2026, in line with average earnings growth.

How Pension Credit Is Calculated

The DWP works out Guarantee Credit in two steps:

1. Appropriate minimum guarantee — the standard minimum guarantee (£238.00 single / £363.25 couple) plus any additions for severe disability, carers, children, and eligible housing costs.
2. Assessed income — your weekly income is totted up and subtracted. Guarantee Credit is the difference, paid weekly.

Income that counts: State Pension (check yours with the State Pension calculator), occupational and personal pensions, annuities, earnings from work (after a £5/week single or £10/week couple disregard), most other benefits, and assumed "tariff income" from savings above £10,000.

Income that is disregarded: Attendance Allowance (see Attendance Allowance rates), Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Winter Fuel Payment, and the Christmas Bonus. These never reduce your Pension Credit — and Attendance Allowance can actually increase it by triggering the severe disability addition.

Tariff income from savings: there is no upper capital limit. The first £10,000 of savings and investments is ignored. Above that, every £500 (or part of £500) is assumed to generate £1/week of income, regardless of the interest you actually earn. So £20,000 of savings adds £20/week to your assessed income — it reduces the award but does not disqualify you.

Additions that raise your guarantee: the severe disability addition (£86.05/week, £172.10 where both partners qualify) applies if you get Attendance Allowance or the daily-living part of PIP, live alone (broadly), and nobody is paid Carer's Allowance for looking after you. The carer addition (£48.15/week) applies if you have an underlying entitlement to Carer's Allowance. Responsibility for a child adds £69.98/week per child (£81.07 for the first child born before 6 April 2017), with higher amounts for disabled children.

Worked Example 1: Single Pensioner Below the Guarantee

A single pensioner with a reduced State Pension of £185.00/week, no other income, and savings under £10,000 (2026/27):

Pension Credit tops their income up to exactly £238.00/week — and the award passports them to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, and (if 75 or over) a free TV licence.

Worked Example 2: Couple With £15,000 Savings

A couple, both over State Pension age, with combined State Pensions of £330.00/week and £15,000 in savings (2026/27):

The £15,000 nest egg does not disqualify them — it is simply converted to £10.00/week of notional income. The interest they actually earn on it is ignored.

Worked Example 3: Just Above the Guarantee — Until Disability Is Counted

A single pensioner on the full new State Pension of £241.30/week is £3.30 above the £238.00 guarantee, so on income alone they get nothing (£0.00). But if they receive Attendance Allowance, live alone, and nobody is paid Carer's Allowance for looking after them, the severe disability addition changes the sums entirely:

This is the single most common reason eligible pensioners wrongly assume they do not qualify: Attendance Allowance is ignored as income, yet it unlocks a £86.05/week higher guarantee. Always re-check Pension Credit after an Attendance Allowance or PIP award.

What Pension Credit Unlocks — the Passporting Effect

Pension Credit is one of the most under-claimed benefits in the UK: the DWP's latest national take-up estimates (for the year to March 2023) put take-up at around 65%, with up to 760,000 eligible households not claiming. The weekly award itself is only half the story — even a few pence of Pension Credit passports you to:

• Housing Benefit — Guarantee Credit recipients who rent usually qualify for their maximum eligible rent.
• Council Tax Reduction — often reducing the bill to nil for Guarantee Credit households (schemes are set locally).
• Free TV licence — where the licence holder is 75 or over and receives Pension Credit.
• NHS costs — Guarantee Credit gives free NHS dental treatment, vouchers towards glasses, and help with transport costs to hospital appointments.
• Warm Home Discount — an automatic annual electricity-bill rebate for Guarantee Credit recipients.
• Cold Weather Payments — paid per qualifying cold spell in England and Wales (Scotland pays an annual Winter Heating Payment instead).
• Winter Fuel Payment — since winter 2025/26 this is paid to all pensioner households, but HMRC recovers it from individuals with income over the recovery threshold. Pension Credit recipients are well below the threshold and always keep it in full.
• Support for Mortgage Interest — homeowners on Pension Credit can get a repayable loan covering mortgage interest.

If your income is only slightly above the guarantee, run the numbers anyway — the additions for disability and caring (and Savings Credit for pre-2016 pensioners) mean many households who assume they are "too well off" are in fact entitled.

Mixed-Age Couples, Backdating, and Deferred Pensions

Mixed-age couples: since 15 May 2019, couples where one partner is under State Pension age cannot make a new Pension Credit claim. They must claim Universal Credit as a couple until both reach State Pension age — usually a substantially lower entitlement. Couples with an unbroken Pension Credit claim from before that date are protected.

Backdating: claims can be backdated by up to 3 months where you were eligible throughout, with the arrears paid in your first payment. You can also apply up to 4 months before reaching State Pension age so the award starts on day one.

Deferred or topped-up State Pension: because every £1 of extra State Pension reduces Guarantee Credit by £1, buying voluntary Class 3 National Insurance years adds nothing for someone who will rely on Pension Credit in retirement — check the State Pension top-up calculator before paying for voluntary contributions.