A CHARITY is urging elderly people to check their benefit entitlement before key changes.

Citizens Advice Flintshire (CAF) said many people are missing out on the benefits they are entitled to and is urging pensioners to act quickly before a further change to the rules.

Across the UK, the Government estimates that around 50 per cent of couples entitled to pension credit are not receiving it.

CAF is calling on all pensioners living on a low income with a partner of working age to urgently check their eligibility for Pension Credit and Housing Benefit because the Government’s rules change from May 15.

The change will see the right to claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit withdrawn from future claimants who happen to have a partner who hasn’t yet reached their own Pension Credit age, with major financial consequences for those affected.

Salli Edwards, chief Executive of Citizens Advice Flintshire said: "It’s not unusual for one partner to be older than the other so many older couples in Flintshire on low incomes could be affected by this policy change, even though many of them may not know it yet.

"That’s why we’re urging any pensioner who thinks there is even the slightest chance that they could be entitled to Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit to put in a claim now rather than wait until May – it could give them as much as £7,000 more to spend a year until the younger partner becomes a pensioner."

The change will not impact on existing Pension Credit claimants but if a so-called ‘mixed-age couple’ temporarily loses their eligibility for these benefits because of a change in their personal or financial circumstances, from May 2019 they will be unable to regain it and will have to claim Universal Credit, which will paid at a significantly reduced rate.

The standard rate of Pension Credit guarantee is paid at a higher level than the standard rate of Universal Credit and this gap has widened. Over recent years Pension Credit guarantee has been uprated, at least in line with earnings, while working age benefit levels have been frozen or increases restricted.

For those mixed aged couples who have not applied for housing benefit or pension credit before the rules changed, the normal rules for backdating Pension Credit and Housing Benefit claims still apply.

This means that claims for these benefits made on or before August 13 can be backdated to before the rule change applies, as long as the entitlement and conditions were met for Pension Credit and Housing Benefit on the earlier date.

The CEO added: "We are urging any older person who is worried about money or thinks they may be entitled to claim Pension Credit, to contact the Pension Service on 0800 99 1234 or entitled to claim Housing Benefit to contact their local Flintshire Connects office as soon as possible."