Mixed-age couples open letter

The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP
Department for Work and Pensions
Caxton House
6-12 Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA

14 May 2026

Dear Secretary of State,

We are writing to you as a group of organisations who care about, work alongside and support older people living on a low income, to ask you to reverse the unfair mixed-age couples rule.

Nobody should be punished financially because of who they love. Yet as many as 70,000 older people are missing out on the financial safety net designed to protect pensioners, just because of their partner’s age. This is urgent. With the incoming rise in State Pension age, more and more couples on a low income will face an even longer wait to receive the entitlements they need due to the mixed-age couples rule.

Public opinion also strongly favours a reversal of this unfair rule. New polling from Survation published in May found that 62% of adults believe that couples where one person is over State Pension age should receive pension-age benefits.

As you know, since May 2019, couples where one partner is over State Pension age and the other is younger cannot claim pension-age benefits. Instead, they have no choice but to rely on Universal Credit, a benefit which is not designed to meet the needs of people of State Pension age and over. Universal Credit is also paid at a substantially lower rate than Pension Credit.

Mixed-age couples are not only blocked from receiving pension-age benefits, but they are also unfairly disadvantaged within the Universal Credit system itself. As Universal Credit distinguishes between earned and unearned income, State Pension income can be treated less favourably than earnings. For every £1 of State Pension income, the Universal Credit award is reduced by £1, whereas earned income reduces the award at a lower rate.

We understand that this policy has been designed to encourage younger partners of people aged over State Pension age to stay in work. However, we are concerned that the assumption that all younger partners are able to be financially responsible for their household does not reflect reality for many couples. In lots of cases, a younger partner will have health conditions or unpaid caring responsibilities that could mean they are unable to work.

Independent Age’s helpline advisers recently spoke to a 79-year old caller, who would have been eligible for Pension Credit if his 59-year old partner had been above State Pension age. His younger partner was in work, but due to health conditions the couple were in a precarious financial position. Despite this, under the current rules this caller would be unable to access the financial support he needed until he was 87, when his partner finally reached State Pension age.

This is just one example of the mixed-age couples rule preventing older people in financial hardship from receiving support they should be entitled to, but we know the rule impacts a significant number of older people. Around 27% of all pensioner couples in the UK include one partner below State Pension age. Those who are affected are missing out on up to £7,000 per year. Many of these older people are struggling to afford essentials such as food and heating and are already experiencing, or at serious risk of, poverty.

We hope you will take urgent action to reverse this unfair rule, and ensure no older person is prevented from receiving the financial support they need because of the age of their partner. 

Yours sincerely,

The undersigned

Independent Age
Age Scotland
Ageing Without Children (AWOC)
Civil Service Pensioners Alliance
National Association of Retired Police Officers (NARPO)
National Federation of Occupational Pensioners
Northern Irish Commissioner
National Pensioners Convention
Re-engage
Unison Retired Members
Welsh Older People's Commissioner
Wise Age
Age UK