Guarantee Credit

Income is assessed as the amount you have coming in each week after any tax or National Insurance is deducted. For a couple, incomes must be added together. Not all income counts.

The following count as income for guarantee credit:

• State Pensions
• Occupational and personal pensions
• Income from annuities
• Most social security benefits (see below for exceptions)
• Earnings (see below for amounts ignored)
• Working Tax Credit
• Income from boarders or sub-tenants (see below for part ignored)
• Regular equity release scheme payments
• Maintenance payments made by a spouse/civil partner or former spouse/civil partner
• Assumed income from savings over £10,000 (£10,000 for a person in a care home)

Income that is ignored includes:

• Housing Benefit / Local Housing Allowance / Rates Relief
• Attendance Allowance (or Constant Attendance Allowance)
• Personal Independence Payment 
• Disability Living Allowance or War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement
• Christmas Bonus
• Winter Fuel Payment
• Social Fund payments
• Exceptionally Severe Disablement Allowance and Severe Disablement Occupational Allowance
• Child Benefit or Child Tax Credits
• Interest from savings
• Voluntary or charitable payments (money given by charity, family or friends)

Parts of weekly income that will also be ignored include:

• £5 of earning from work for a single person

• £10 of earnings from work for a couple (whether or not both partners are working)

• £20 of earnings from work if you are a carer or if you are disabled

• £10 of a War Widows or War Disablement Pension

• £20 of any payment from a sub-tenant or boarder, and for a boarder, half of any payment over £20

£10,000 of your savings (including capital, investments and property) is ignored for Pension Credit.

This amount is also £10,000 if you are in a care home.

For a couple, savings are added together but the limit is the same.

£1 for every £500 (or part of £500) of savings over £10,000 is counted as income. So, £20,000 of savings is equivalent to £20 of income: (20,000 - 10,000) / 500 = 20

Things that will be assessed as capital and savings include:

• Property (other than your home)
• Cash (including that in a bank or building society account)
• National Savings products
• Investments e.g. stocks and shares
• Any savings jointly owned with others (calculate a person’s share of these)

Capital that will be ignored includes:

• Personal possessions such as jewellery
• Your home (if you own it and are living there)
• The values of funeral plans
• The surrender value of a life assurance policy
• Arrears of certain benefits
• Lump-sum payment from deferring a state pension
• The capital value of a pension fund or annuity
• The £10,000 ex-gratia payment for Far Eastern Prisoners of war
• Money from the sale of a home if it is being kept to buy a new one