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If you have a severe disability or care for others

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You could get an extra £69.40 a week if you get any of the following:

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  • Attendance Allowance

  • the middle or highest rate from the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

  • the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

  • Armed Forces Independence Payment

  • the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment (ADP)

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If you care for another adult

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You could get an extra £38.85 a week if:

  • you get Carer’s Allowance

  • you’ve claimed Carer’s Allowance but are not being paid because you already get another benefit paying a higher amount

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If you and your partner have both claimed or are getting Carer’s Allowance, you can both get this extra amount.

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If you’re responsible for children or young people

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You could get an extra £56.35 a week for each child or young person you’re responsible for. This is increased to £66.85 a week for the first child if they were born before 6 April 2017.

The child or young person must normally live with you and be under the age of 20.

If they’re 16 or over and under 20, they must be in (or accepted for):

  • approved training, such as Foundation Apprenticeships

  • a course of non-advanced education (for example, they’re studying for GCSEs or A levels)

If they’re in education, it must be for more than 12 hours a week on average.

If you get Tax Credits, you cannot get this extra amount of Pension Credit for caring for a child. But you might be eligible for Child Tax Credits.

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If the child or young person is disabled

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If the child or young person is disabled, you could also get an extra amount of either:

  • £30.58 a week if they get DLA, PIP or ADP

  • £95.48 a week if they’re blind or they get the highest rate care component of DLA or CDP, or the enhanced daily living component of PIP or ADP

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Find out how much you could get

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Use the Pension Credit calculator to work out how much you might get.

Contact the Pension Service helpline if you’re not sure whether you’re eligible for extra amounts.

Pension Service helpline
Telephone: 0800 731 0469
Textphone: 0800 169 0133
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 731 0469
British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service if you’re on a computer - find out how to use the service on mobile or tablet
Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
Find out about call charges

How you’re paid

All benefits, pensions and allowances are usually paid into an account, for example a bank account.

You can start your application up to 4 months before you reach State Pension age.

You can apply any time after you reach State Pension age but your application can only be backdated by 3 months. This means you can get up to 3 months of Pension Credit in your first payment if you were eligible during that time.

Apply online

You can use the online service if you have already applied for your State Pension.

Apply now

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Information you’ll need

You’ll need the following information about you and your partner if you have one:

  • National Insurance number

  • information about any income, savings and investments you have

  • information about your income, savings and investments on the date you want to backdate your application to (usually 3 months ago or the date you reached State Pension age)

You’ll also need your bank account details. Depending on how you apply, you may also be asked for your bank or building society name, sort code and account number.

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