Pension Credit

[brainiac]

Does anybody know if it's possible to claim pension credit before reaching male pension age (65)? My neighbour assures me that he successfully claimed at the age of 62/3, but when I put my details into the appropriate government online site, it tells me I must wait till 2020, when I turn 65. Thanks

[jennyjoan]

so you are 62 now. I think you were right in putting a question mark at the male pension age - I am thinking 66, 67 or 68.

If you google male pension age - you will get some facts there.

[ubasses]

To claim either you or your partner must have received the State Pension age. So if your neighbour's other half had reached their pension age he could have claimed.

[ubasses]

that should have read 'reached' not received.

[EDDIE51]

Pension credit web site here , check your qualification date
https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age
Remember a male qualifies on the same date a female born on the same day does.

[brainiac]

Thanks, all. Looks like I'll have to wait!

[Buenchico]

For clarification:

The age at which Pension Credit can be claimed (for both men and women) has always been the age at which a woman qualifes for her State Pension. So, since the female State Pension used to be 60, both men and women used to be able to claim Pension Credit from that age.

However the State Pension age for women has been gradually rising, from 60 to 65. So the qualifying age for Pension Credit has also been rising.

As an example, I'm male and I was born in April 1953. A woman who was born on the same day as me will have qualified for her State Pension in July last year, at the age of 63 years and 3 months. So that's when I qualified for Pension Credit.

The age at which a woman qualifies for her State Pension has continued to rise since then, thus explaining why the qualifying age for Pension Credit has also been rising. A woman born on the same day as you, Brainiac, won't get her State Pension until she's 65, so neither of you will qualify for Pension Credit until then.

[EDDIE51]

^ My wife is most annoyed that she has to wait until she is 65. She was due to get her pension at 60. 5 extra years is a long time.