State pensioners could get extra £750 a month if they make claim before key date

File photo of models of elderly people on a pile of coins and bank notes
-Credit:PA


State pensioners who ask for additional financial support for health issues before a key date could get an extra £750 a month. Crucially, people can still put in a claim for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if they were eligible for it in the year before they reached State Pension age.

Those who were on PIP before they became pensioners can also continue to receive it until their award is reviewed at the end of its term or when their circumstances change. These are the two key rules that apply to pensioner claims for PIP.

Statistics show hundreds of thousands of state pensioners are in receipt of PIP, which is paid to help with the extra costs of a disability or long-term mental or physical health condition. Anyone wanting to apply for financial help with medical issues once they've gone beyond State Pension age and are not already on PIP would have to put in a claim for Attendance Allowance instead.

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PIP can help with the extra costs of managing everyday activities such as preparing a meal, bathing and getting dressed, and also for mobility difficulties, with standard and enhanced payment rates available. These will go up by 1.7 per cent from April in line with the uprating of most benefits by September's inflation figure.

Figures show 677,768 people aged 65 and above get the daily living element of PIP - with just over half on the standard rate and the rest on the enhanced rate - and 676,765 people get the mobility element, mostly at the enhanced rate. Many older people get both elements combined although 123,000 PIP claimants over 65 only get the daily care component and don't receive any mobility element at all.

The figures show 307,577 older people are on the enhanced daily living component, which pays £434.20 every four weeks and will go up to £441.60 from April, and 357,633 are on the enhanced mobility component which pays £303 every four weeks, rising to £308.20 from April.

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The maximum payable - the enhanced rates of both elements combined - will rise from £737.20 to £749.80 every four weeks from April 2025.

Figures for the age of claimants are provided in five-year increments so it's not possible to tell exactly how many above the current pension age of 66 are on the payments as the data starts from a point one year earlier at 65. But this still gives a very good idea of the numbers of pensioners benefiting from the support as the State Pension age was previously 65.

Attendance Allowance, for older people who are unable to get PIP, is currently at a rate of £72.65 or £108.55 a week to help with personal support. It's paid into accounts every four weeks, which would mean £290.60 at the lower rate and £434.20 at the higher rate.

From April, those amounts will rise to £295.60 and £441.60 respectively. The higher rate is for those needing assistance throughout the day and night.

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