The guarantee credit
13.The guarantee credit will bring recipients' incomes to a guaranteed level and will be payable to both men and women at or over the age which is the minimum qualifying age for women to receive the basic state pension. This is currently 60 but, under the Pensions Act 1995, it is set to rise by stages to 65 between 2010 and 2020. The guarantee credit will subsume the premiums currently paid to carers and the severely disabled under MIG. Those pensioners without additional needs will receive the “standard minimum guarantee”, which, in 2003, is expected to be around £100 for a person who is not a member of a couple (a “single person”) and £154 for a married or unmarried couple (a "couple").
14.The Government announced its intention, in "The Pension Credit: a consultation paper" (Cm 4900), that the guaranteed income level of Pension Credit will keep pace with the growth of earnings over this Parliament and this was reaffirmed in “The Pension Credit: the Government’s proposals” published in November 2001.
15.For everyone aged 60 and over it is intended that regulations under the Act will end the assumed rate of return of £1 a week for every £250 of capital held. The intention is that a rate of return of £1 a week for every £500 will be applied to capital that exceeds £6,000 (£10,000 in the case of people in residential care and nursing homes). Capital below this amount will not be taken into account in the assessment and there will no longer be a fixed upper capital limit. In exceptional circumstances actual income from capital will be used in the calculation.
