AGE UK Barnsley is calling on all pensioners with a low income and a non-pensioner partner to put in a claim or risk missing out on up to £7,000 a year.

The charity is telling people to check their eligibility for Pension Credit and Housing Benefit and put in a claim before the government changes the rules on May 15.

The change will see the right to claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit withdrawn from future claimants who happen to have a partner who hasn’t yet reached their own pensionable age, with consequences for those affected. Age UK Barnsley is warning that this could have a devastating impact on local residents.

The charity is warning that by slashing the benefits that couples needing to claim benefits in the future will get by as much as £7,000 a year. The charity said the new policy will place some pensioners in the absurd position of being financially better off if they split up and live apart from their younger partner.

This is because once the change is implemented, the older partner could be eligible for significantly more money by claiming Pension Credit as a single person than if the pair of them claim Universal Credit as a couple.

Although in theory this change will not impact on existing claimants, the charity is warning that if a so-called ‘mixed-age couple’ temporarily loses their eligibility for these benefits because of a change in their personal or financial circumstances, from May they will be unable to regain it and will be thrown back onto the Universal Credit regime, the problems of which are well documented.

Jane Holliday CEO, Age UK Barnsley, said: “It’s not at all unusual for one partner to be older than the other so many older couples in Barnsley 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 pensioner who thinks 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 - it could give them as much as £7,000 more to spend every year until the younger partner becomes a pensioner.

“We are urging any older person who is worried about money or thinks they may be entitled to claim Pension Credit or other pensioner benefits to get in touch with us ASAP before May 15 so we can help them through the claiming process.”

For more information, call 776825 or email information@ageukbarnsley.org.uk.