DWP paying state pensioners who have savings £990 each

Benefit is designed to reward people who have saved up for retirement and the support in question is referred to as 'Savings Credit'.

The Department for Work and Pensions has a benefit worth £990.08 that's only for certain state pensioners with more money. The DWP benefit is designed to reward people who have saved up for retirement and the support in question is referred to as 'Savings Credit'.

Pension credit is a benefit designed to support pensioners on lower incomes. It is entirely separate from the state pension, and is made up of two parts: “guarantee credit” and “savings credit”. You might be eligible for one or both parts.

Guarantee credit tops up your weekly income to the minimum guaranteed level. Savings credit provides some extra money if you have some savings, or if your income is higher than the basic state pension. Only those who reached state pension age before April 6 2016 receive the basic state pension, and it’s only this cohort of pensioners who may be eligible for savings credit.

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Becky O'Connor, director of public affairs at PensionBee, has commended the crucial Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit, said: "It rewards people who have some extra savings or income." She told The Telegraph: "This may seem a bit counterintuitive – a benefit that pays more to people who already have more – but it’s a way of incentivising and rewarding those who’ve made modest retirement savings."

Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, said: “The idea was to ensure that those with a small amount of savings or a modest pension income – above the level of the basic state pension – were not in the same position as someone who had made no savings at all.”

You can only be eligible for savings credit if you reached state pension age before April 6, 2016. You also must have saved some money for retirement, such as in a workplace pension or savings account. It’s possible to receive savings credit even if you don’t qualify for the main guarantee credit part of the benefit.

Ms O’Connor said: “This includes their basic state pension, any additional state pension, and other income – such as a private pension.” As of 2024, a single person can typically get up to £17.01 per week in savings credit, while a couple can get up to £19.04 per week.

Mr Greer said: “It can be quite complex to work out, and the name is slightly misleading, as it’s not the amount of savings you have, but the amount of income you could get from them.”