As many will know, the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) will be replaced by the Pension Credit in October 2003.
Visit the State Pensions Centre in the Pensions Adviser.com. The Pension Credit will reward people that have saved towards their retirement, in addition to the old MIG allowances. In an attempt to get as many claims as possible for the Pension Credit, the Department for Work and Pensions is running a television and press advert campaign for 12 months and will also be writing to every household with a pensioner.
In basic terms, if you are aged 60 and over you are guaranteed to receive £102.10 per week for single people and £155.80 for couples. If you have saved towards your retirement, you could be entitled to more.
Our View
The Pension Credit is basically MIG with a new name and additional benefits for people that have saved towards retirement. We believe the Government has not gone far enough as people do not get full credit for the savings they made towards retirement. As with most State benefits, the most goes to those that do not save. We feel this penalises those people that have tried to provide for themselves. Basically, there is little or no incentive to save for yourself.
As usual, the Conservatives have criticised the move, saying that the advertising has come so late (less than a month to go) so that the take-up will be slow from the general public. This way, less is likely to go wrong and the Pension Credit implementation will be hailed as a success. The Conservatives have also criticised the Government's figures which say that even by the year 2006, 1.5 million pensioners that are eligible for Pension Credit will not be claiming. They believe this is due to flaws in the design of the Pension Credit.We would urge everyone over 60 to apply for an assessment. Even if you do not qualify, at least you will know for definite.
In terms of the paperwork, as always, DWP paperwork is not the easiest to complete. We remember the 100 page plus MIG application form! If you struggle to complete the paperwork, either telephone or visit your local DWP office. Their details will be in your telephone directory and they are there to help you.
Pension Credit - Free Fact Sheet - Registered Users Only.
Pension Credit Details - Visit the State Pensions Centre in the Pensions Adviser.com.