pension credit

[smiffy65]

we a are both pensioners over 65 and was recently getting council tax credit, but we were strongly advised to apply for pension credit so we did and we eventually was awarded �17 a week and we was awarded back pay of nearly �800, Then I got a letter telling me that the council tax rebate had stopped and that I had to repay back to them the council tax rebate they had given from april,where is the sense of claiming, its no wonder pensioners wont claim its the most degrading thing we have ever been through,my husband worked for 50 years never claimed anything from the stateand if we rented our house instead of paying mortgage we would get help for our rent, the mind boggles

[bednobs]

sorry, i cnat understand your question. But i have to say it sounds crap. Have you lost out money wise, or is the pension credit more than the council tax rebate?

[Yorky Lass]

Our council would only have taken 20% of your Pension Credit into account for Council Tax. Therefore only �3.40 of your �17 would have gone towards their calculating of your income.

You were either very close to the cut off point prior to you obtaining Pension Credit or they have miss calculated your income.

I would ask them to review your application for Council Tax rebate.

[smiffy65]

thanks a lot for the answers, but really it was not a question just to let people know that pension credit is a con, yes I did ask for a review, but because I was awarded pension credit, the reason was my circumstances have changed, no bettter off just dissallusioned

[Yorky Lass]

It seems very strange that you are no better off. How much Council Tax rebate have you actually lost?
You write the council say your circumstances have changed and that is why you no longer receive a rebate but as I stated previously all of the �17 shouldn't have been taken into account. You were very probably very close to the cut off point for a rebate and whatever your council has calculated as income from your �17 has taken you over the allowance.
Sorry to hear you found the process of applying for Pension Credit degrading. Unfortunately all means tested benefits are the same. Any savings over �6000 have to be verified as well as any occupational pensions.