PENSIONERS could face ‘devastating consequences’ if they do not claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit before May 15, Age UK Oxfordshire has warned.

The charity, which helps the elderly, is urging pensioners living on a low income with a working partner to urgently check their eligibility for the benefits and put in a claim before the Government changes the rules which could leave them up to £7,000 worse off.

The change will see the right to claim the benefits - which Age UK says are important tools in the fight against pensioner poverty – withdrawn from people who have a partner under the age of 65 who has not yet reached their pensionable age.

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Instead, pensioners will have to claim universal credit alongside their younger partners.

The couple rate of universal credit is £114.81 a week compared to £255.25 for a couple receiving pension credit. This amounts to a potential loss of £7,320 a year, leaving people financially better off single than with their partner.

From May, if a so-called ‘mixed-age couple’ temporarily loses their eligibility for these benefits because of a change in circumstance, they will be unable to regain it and will be thrown back onto the Universal Credit regime.

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Penny Thewlis, CEO of Age UK Oxfordshire, said: “It’s not at all unusual for one partner to be older than the other so many older couples in Oxfordshire on low incomes could be affected by this policy change, even though many of them may not know it yet.

“That’s why we’re urging any pensioners who think there is even the slightest chance that they could be entitled to Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit to put in a claim now rather than wait until May."

To get in touch with the charity's information and advice team, call us on 0345 450 1276 and ask for the helpline.