Pension Credit is assessed on the household, not the individual. So the events that change a household, a new partner, a marriage, a death, a move into care, are the ones that change the money.
Both partners must have reached State Pension age
This is the rule that has caught couples since 2019. The Act says a claimant is not entitled to state pension credit if they are a member of a couple the other member of which has not attained the qualifying age (State Pension Credit Act 2002, section 4, checked 1 November 2026). It came into force on 15 May 2019.
A couple where one partner is over State Pension age and the other is not is called a mixed-age couple. Unless the protection below applies, it cannot get Pension Credit at all, and looks to Universal Credit instead. Our Pension Credit guide sets out the other eligibility rules.
The protection for couples already claiming before 2019
Couples who were already receiving Pension Credit before the change kept it. The commencement order protects a member of a mixed-age couple entitled, as that couple, to Pension Credit or Housing Benefit the day before the rule began, until they get neither (SI 2019/37, article 4, checked 1 November 2026).
GOV.UK states the effect plainly: if you were living with a partner under State Pension age before 15 May 2019 and getting Pension Credit, you will keep getting it unless you stop being eligible (GOV.UK, Pension Credit: report a change of circumstances, checked 1 November 2026). The protection is fragile. Once the award ends, for whatever reason, it cannot be restored.
Starting to live with somebody
A new relationship is a change the claim has to hear about, and the partner’s age decides what follows. GOV.UK says you will stop getting Pension Credit if you start living with a partner who is under State Pension age (GOV.UK, Pension Credit: report a change of circumstances, checked 1 November 2026). Marriage is not required; living together as a couple is enough.
If the new partner has also reached State Pension age, the claim becomes a joint one. Their income and savings are added, and the award is worked out against the couple rate of £363.25 a week for 2026/27 rather than the single rate of £238 (DWP benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027, checked 1 November 2026). Two pensions together can take a couple above the level where Pension Credit is paid.
When a partner dies
A death turns a joint claim into a single one. The survivor’s entitlement is reworked on their own income and savings against the single rate, which is why a widow or widower who got nothing as part of a couple can sometimes qualify on their own, and why a couple’s award can fall or stop.
Report it quickly. Tell Us Once passes the death to the Department for Work and Pensions along with other government departments (GOV.UK, What to do after someone dies: tell Us Once, checked 1 November 2026). A survivor who was not claiming before is worth a fresh check, because the arithmetic has changed. Our Pension Credit calculator gives a first estimate.
When a partner goes into hospital or a care home
A partner going into care does not end the couple straight away. The regulations treat partners as no longer in the same household where one of them is permanently in a care home or an independent hospital (State Pension Credit Regulations 2002, regulation 5, checked 1 November 2026). A temporary stay is treated differently from a permanent move.
Once the move is permanent, each partner is assessed separately, which can change both awards. The partner at home may qualify as a single person, and the partner in care is assessed alongside the council’s charges. Tell the Pension Service when the stay begins and again if it becomes permanent. Our page on paying for care covers the council’s side.
Report every change, promptly
The duty is set out in the regulations: claimants must notify the Secretary of State of any change of circumstances as soon as reasonably practicable after it occurs (Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987, regulation 32, checked 1 November 2026). There is no fixed number of days, which makes early reporting the safe course.
The consequences of not doing so are real. GOV.UK warns that your claim might be stopped or reduced if you do not report a change straight away, and that you could be taken to court or have to pay a penalty if you give wrong information or do not report a change (GOV.UK, Pension Credit: report a change of circumstances, checked 1 November 2026). An overpayment built up over months is the usual result, and our page on Pension Credit reviews and overpayments covers what happens then.