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Pension Credit is the principal element of the UK welfare system for poorer people of pension age. It is intended to supplement the UK State Pension). It was introduced in the UK in 2003 by Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer (and subsequently Prime Minister). It has been subject to a number of changes over its existence, but has the core aim of lifting a large number of the poorest retired people out of poverty. Eligibility may be estimated on a government website.〔(Get a Pension Credit estimate on Gov.UK )〕 ==Original core elements== The scheme was introduced to replace the ''Minimum Income Guarantee'', which had itself been introduced in 1997, by the same Gordon Brown. Pension Credit had two elements: *Guarantee Credit is an income based benefit which is paid if the income of the applicant and partner (plus a notional income from savings) is below a certain level (£148.35 per week for a single person and £226.50 per week for a couple in 2014/15). The minimum age for claiming is rising in line with the increase in women's retirement age (see State Pension age). It is currently 62, but by April 2020 the minimum age for claiming will be 65. *Savings Credit is an inverse means-tested benefit; the higher the individual's private pension income, the more they receive in Savings Credit, up to a certain limit. This element is available once the applicant or their partner reaches 65. Savings Credit is designed to "reward" people who saved for their pension during their working life. It therefore provides additional benefit to retired people who are not necessarily well off, but do have savings or a personal pension, and may not qualify for the full Guarantee Credit. The value of Guarantee Credit, and Savings Credit are automatically uprated each year, in line with inflation, as is the basic State Pension, and Second State Pension (''S2P''). However, they are uprated by different inflation measures: *Retail Price Index (''RPI'') : basic State Pension, *Consumer Price Index (''CPI'') : Second State Pension *Increase in Average Earnings : Guarantee Credit, Savings Credit The net, deliberate, effect of these differences is to make the total combined impact gradually converge, over about 40 years, to an eventual situation where the total benefit is around £140 a week, whatever an individual's circumstance. Consequently, the Coalition government proposed replacing this complex system with a single flat-rate pension of about £140 per week, a policy which is currently being processed by Parliament. Savings Credit, which would be abolished by the flat-rate pension policy, is currently only claimed by around 1% of eligible individuals, and few people of eligible age are aware of its existence. As an interim measure, the Coalition government changed the uprating system, so that a higher levels of income would be obtained more automatically, instead of via Savings Credit: *basic State Pension : a ''triple lock'' - whichever is larger of * *CPI, or * *the increase in Average Earnings, or * *2.5% *Guarantee Credit : the amount necessary to remain below the basic State Pension by the same cash amount *Savings Credit : reduced by the amount necessary to cover the funding for the increase in Guarantee Credit, above where it would be under the original uprating scheme 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pension Credit」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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