Children's Handbook Scotland 2020/21Chapter 1: Benefits and tax credits15. Pension credit Who can get pension credit
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Who can get pension credit
You qualify for PC if:1ss1-4 SPCA 2002; Part 2 SPC Regs
    •you have reached pension age (see here). If you have a partner, your partner must also have reached pension age (there are some exceptions to this rule: see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook); and
    •you are in Great Britain (with some exceptions for periods of temporary absence) and you satisfy the ‘habitual residence test’, including having the ‘right to reside’, and are not a ‘person subject to immigration control’. These terms are explained in CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook; and
    •your income is below a set level.
If you are a member of a couple, one of you must claim PC for both. Your joint income is taken into account.
 
1     ss1-4 SPCA 2002; Part 2 SPC Regs »
Pension age
The ‘qualifying age’ for PC is the minimum age that you can receive your state retirement pension. For claimants born on or after 6 April 1950, this is increasing to 66 by October 2020 and will eventually go up to 68. For more information, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook.