Campaigns & issues

Linda‚ aged 60‚ reviews Age Concern's "Your Rights to Money Benefits" book:

Your Rights to Money Benefits was easy to understand‚ clear and helpful. I went through it carefully and did some things straight away that gave me an extra £140 a month. Now I’m going to re-read it and see what else I can do.

I read the book a few months before my 60th birthday and made a list of everything you had to do. This included applying for my senior railcard and freedom pass‚ finding out my pension details from different past jobs and the government one‚ getting tax exemption certificates and registering for the warm front grant. There’s lots of other information I haven’t used yet that will be useful as I get older – like pension credit and housing benefit when I stop work.

Without this book I’d never have known about the tax exemption certificate. They don’t get in touch to tell you that you don’t have to pay NI anymore and my employers didn’t know about it either – you have to do it yourself. I had to get 2 certificates because I have 2 part time jobs but now I don’t pay NI it saves me over £70 a month.

I decided to claim my pension from when I worked in a library for a few years which gives me £30 a month and a lump sum. It’s only a small amount of money but it makes a lot of difference to me‚ so I decided it was worth getting this now rather than waiting. My mum is still going strong at 85 so I reckon that’s £30 a month for a good few years to come. And I’m still building up another pension with my current employers too.

I thought it would only get a bus pass and I wasn’t going to bother applying. But I found out it’s a freedom pass in London. That means free tube and train travel in all 6 zones too. It means I can get to work free now. As a part time worker on a low income‚ that’s really useful and it saves me £40 a month just on fares. It’s really opened up the capital for me. I can visit friends and family or just go out for the day without worrying about the cost. Also I found out about senior rail card which gives me 20% all UK rail journeys. Both my mum and my daughter live in Scotland so this saves me lots of money on train fares each year.

I was looking forward to getting some help with my heating costs‚ £200 will make a real difference. But you have to be 60 before September to be eligible and I was born in December so I didn’t get it this year. But I know how to claim and I’ll get it next year!"

Order the latest version:

You can order this book by visiting the Age Concern online bookshop.

Your Rights to Money Benefits 2008/09     
Author: Sally West
ISBN: 978-0-86242-427-5
Pages: 224
Publication Date: April 07
Price: £5.99