Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2023/24Part 4: General rules for other means-tested benefitsChapter 23: Capital: over pension age Key facts
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Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2024/25

Key facts
    •There is no upper capital limit for pension credit (PC).
    •Generally, you are not eligible for pension-age housing benefit (HB) if your total capital is over £16,000. However, if you get the guarantee credit of PC, there is no capital limit for HB because all your capital is ignored.
    •If you have capital over £10,000, this affects the amount of PC or HB you get because it is assumed that your capital gives you some income – called ‘deemed income’.
    •Capital includes your and your partner’s savings, investments and property. Some kinds of capital are ignored when working out your PC or HB – eg, the value of the home in which you live.
    •If you deliberately get rid of capital in order to get more benefit, you are treated as still having it.
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