What Grants Are Available in the UK for Retirement?

Day in, day out for the past 40 to 50 years, you have worked tirelessly to fortify your family’s financial foundations. Now you have reached your twilight years, you deserve to take a load off by retiring in peace.

If you wish to enjoy a stress-free and straightforward retirement, it’s imperative that you make an effort to get on top of your fiscal matters. Fortunately, you don’t have to take on this crucial task all alone. There are a whole host of government-backed schemes and initiatives out there designed to provide you with monetary assistance. All you have to do is accept the help that is offered!

Here are two retirement grants that are potentially available to you in the UK:

Pension Credit

If you and your family members find yourselves operating on a low income during your retirement, you should be entitled to receive Pension Credit. Once you start taking advantage of this financial assistance, you will receive a weekly top-up of your income. Not only will this help you to fortify your week-by-week financial foundations, but it will also help you to put some money aside for the future. Whether you take advantage of this money yourself or leave it behind for your kids and grandkids, you cannot afford to miss out on this crucial cash injection.

As detailed by the financial experts at Growing Power, there are two types of Pension Credit — guarantee credit and savings credit. The former will pay you a maximum of £265.20 if you’re married and £173.75 if you’re single; in order to take advantage of the latter, you must have reached State Pension age before April 2016

Housing Benefit

Should you find yourself struggling to pay your rent (note, not your mortgage) in your retirement, you will be entitled to housing benefit. This means-tested financial assistance could end up playing a vital role in your retirement, simply because it will help you to keep a roof over your head well into your twilight years.

Per information provided by Citizens Advice, you or your partner must meet the following criteria in order for your household to receive housing benefit:

1. You must have reached State Pension age

2. You must have been receiving Pension Credit since before 15 May 2015

3. You must live in temporary accommodation

4. Your landlord provides you with care or support (i.e. sheltered housing)

The instant loss of income that you suffer when you retire, as well as the age-related expenses that you face, will force you to tighten your pursestrings in certain situations. If you don’t want this to impact your or your family’s financial future, it’s imperative that you take advantage of all the monetary grants that are available to you.

Many senior citizens don’t claim the array of grants that they are entitled to when they reach retirement age. If you don’t want to fall into this unfortunate category, be sure to take full advantage of the financial schemes listed above.