People in hospital

• How going into hospital affects Pension Credit
• Single people
• Couples
• One partner in hospital
• Both partners in hospital
• Housing costs while in hospital
• More information

How going into hospital affects Pension Credit

Your customer’s Pension Credit may be affected if they or their partner go into hospital [Reference 9] as an in-patient. This will depend on:

• whether your customer has a partner
• whether they are both in hospital,
• the length of stay in hospital.

Single people

Your customer’s Pension Credit will normally stay the same if they are single and go into hospital unless:

• their ‘appropriate amount’ includes an extra amount for severe disability or carers,
• they stop being treated as responsible for housing costs (see Housing Costs while in Hospital).

We will stop paying the extra amount for severe disability when the Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance stops (usually after four weeks). We will stop paying the extra amount for carers eight weeks after the Carer’s Allowance (or your customer’s underlying entitlement to it) stops.

Couples

If one or both people are in hospital and are not expected to return home when they are discharged (for example, if arrangements are being made for them to live permanently in a care home once they leave hospital), they may be treated as a single person for Pension Credit purposes. If this happens, the person who has not been getting Pension Credit will need to apply in their own right.

One partner in hospital

If your customer and their partner are treated as a couple and one of them has to go into hospital, their Pension Credit will normally stay the same for the first 52 weeks unless:

• their ‘appropriate amount’ includes an extra amount for severe disability or carers,
• they stop being treated as a couple for Pension Credit purposes.

If the extra amount for severe disability was at the higher rate it will drop to the lower rate when Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance stops for the person in hospital (usually after four weeks).

If it was at the lower rate it will either stop or continue at the lower rate when Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance stops for the person in hospital. (This will depend on the circumstances when both people were at home and which one goes into hospital.)

Here is an example to explain this rule

Peter and Mary are a couple and both have Attendance Allowance, but the extra amount is at the lower rate because someone is getting Carer’s Allowance for looking after Peter. If Peter goes into hospital and his Attendance Allowance stops, the extra amount will stay the same. If Mary goes into hospital and her Attendance Allowance stops, so will the extra amount.

If your customer stops getting Carer’s Allowance (or their underlying entitlement to it ends) because they or the person they care for goes into hospital, we will stop paying the extra amount for carers eight weeks later.

Your customer and their partner will usually be treated as single people for Pension Credit purposes after 52 weeks, unless they are expected to come home shortly afterwards. If this happens, the person who has not been getting Pension Credit will need to apply in their own right.

Both partners in hospital

If both partners are in hospital, your customer’s Pension Credit will normally stay the same for the first 52 weeks unless:

• their ‘appropriate amount’ includes an extra amount for severe disability or carers
• they stop being treated as a couple,
• they stop being treated as responsible for housing costs (see Housing costs while in hospital below).

We will not include the extra amount for severe disability when their Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance stops (usually after four weeks). We will stop the extra amount for carers eight weeks after Carer’s Allowance (or underlying entitlement to it) ends.

Your customer and their partner will be treated as single people for Pension Credit purposes after 52 weeks, unless both are expected to come home shortly afterwards. The person who has not been getting Pension Credit will then need to apply in their own right.

Housing costs while in hospital

If your customer goes into hospital they will continue to get any Pension Credit housing cost payments for as long as they are treated as responsible for the costs. This will normally be for up to a maximum of 52 weeks. If and when it becomes clear that their stay in hospital will be for much longer than a year, we will stop housing cost payments immediately.

More information

For detailed information about Housing Benefit paid to people in hospital there is guide RR2, A guide to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.