Pensions and pension credits
Introduction
I haven't studied pension credits in detail yet, but I do know that they were originally introduced by the government because of a reluctance to raise the old age pension to a respectable level, hence the name change of the old age pension to basic state pension. Any pensioner relying on the basic state pension as their income and with only limited savings is likely to qualify for pension credits, but you'd have to read the rules to check.
Claiming is not scrounging
I know that a lot of people don't claim pension credits despite being eligible. Maybe they don't know that they're eligible, but I occasionally hear or read about protests from pensioners who refuse to claim pension credits, presumably because they regard claiming as scrounging.
The qualifying ages
My sixtieth birthday falls in September 2011, and I was working on the assumption that I would qualify for pension credits at that time, but this is not so. Because of changes to the state pension age for women, I have to wait until March 2013 until I qualify for pension credits. The rules about other benefits currently given to people aged sixty and over are affected too, including bus passes and coach travel discounts and the winter fuel payment, but not senior railcards (unless they've forgotten to update the website). In Sptember 2016, I qualify for the basic state pension as things stand, though the Conservatives propose to raise the retirement age from 65 to 66 in that year at the earliest.
Many of these benefits are available to people with jobs as well as those without, though some are subject to Means testing so not everybody qualifies for them. Check the rules at the links given. These rules are likely to change over time. As of 2009, bus passes are NOT means tested, but the cost of funding them is causing concern in some quarters. If Means testing were introduced for bus passes, I wonder how many people would claim them.
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