Benefits and allowances people miss: what to check, and where

The entitlements most often left unclaimed in the UK (Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Marriage Allowance, Council Tax Reduction and the help each one unlocks) with 2026/27 rates from gov.uk and the free, independent calculators to check your own. A signpost, not a checker. Education, not advice.

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Billions of pounds of benefits go unclaimed every year, and most of it isn't the benefits people think of. It is help that working-age and retired people with modest incomes, carers, and people living with a disability or long-term condition qualify for and never ask about, often because they assume savings, a house or a small pension rules them out. This guide names the ones most often missed, says roughly who they are for, and points to the free calculators that check your own position. It doesn't work out what you'd get: the rules turn on details only a full check can see.

Pension Credit, and what it unlocks

Pension Credit tops up the weekly income of someone over State Pension age to £238 if single or £363.25 for a couple (2026/27), with extra amounts for severe disability, caring and children. Many who qualify for a few pounds a week don't claim, and that is the costly mistake: Pension Credit is the key to other help, including Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, the £150 Warm Home Discount, a free TV licence from 75, and help with NHS dental treatment and glasses. A claim can be backdated three months, and you can apply up to four months before reaching State Pension age. Savings and a home don't automatically rule you out. In Northern Ireland it is claimed through nidirect.

Attendance Allowance

For people over State Pension age whose disability or health condition means they need help looking after themselves: £76.70 or £114.60 a week, depending on the help needed. It is not means-tested (income and savings don't matter), you don't need anyone actually caring for you, and it can increase Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction. In Scotland, Pension Age Disability Payment replaces it. It is one of the most under-claimed benefits there is.

Carer's Allowance

£86.45 a week if you care for someone at least 35 hours a week and they get a qualifying disability benefit, and your earnings are £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses (half of pension contributions count as an expense). If you get a State Pension of £86.45 or more you won't be paid it, but claiming can still raise Pension Credit through its carer addition, so it is worth claiming anyway.

Marriage Allowance

If one of a married couple or civil partners earns less than the £12,570 Personal Allowance and the other pays basic-rate tax, the lower earner can transfer £1,260 of allowance, cutting the couple's tax by up to £252 a year. It can be backdated to earlier years you were eligible. The Marriage Allowance calculator works out the saving.

Council tax: reductions and discounts

Council Tax Reduction can cut the bill by up to 100% for people on a low income or benefits, working or not, owning or renting; each council runs its own scheme. Separately, someone who lives alone (as the only adult who counts) gets 25% off, and there are discounts and exemptions for disabled people, carers, students and people with a severe mental impairment.

Other help worth a look

The Winter Fuel Payment of £100 to £300 goes to people born on or before 27 June 1960 (for winter 2026 to 2027), taken back through tax if your income is over £35,000. Families should check Child Benefit (worth claiming even above the High Income Child Benefit Charge, for the National Insurance credits), Tax-Free Childcare and funded childcare hours. Anyone whose tax code looks wrong can check it with the tax code checker. Broadband and phone companies offer cheaper social tariffs to people on many benefits.

Check your own: free and independent

gov.uk points to three free, anonymous calculators that check income-related benefits, Universal Credit, Council Tax Reduction and Carer's Allowance together: entitledto, the Turn2us benefits calculator and Policy in Practice's Better Off calculator. Have your savings, income (and a partner's), existing benefits and pensions, rent or mortgage and council tax bill to hand. Citizens Advice, Age UK and local councils' welfare rights teams can check with you and help with the forms, free.

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