child_minimum_guarantee_addition adds the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 Schedule IIA amount for every child or qualifying young person in a Pension Credit family. Two things are wrong.
1. It is paid alongside a tax credit award
SPC Regs 2002 reg 6(6)(d) adds an amount "except where paragraph (11) applies, or entitlement ceases by virtue of paragraph (14), in accordance with Schedule IIA (additional amount applicable for claimants responsible for a child or qualifying young person)".
Reg 6(11): "This paragraph applies in the case of a person who is awarded, or who is treated as having an award of, a tax credit under the Tax Credits Act." Reg 6(17): "“a tax credit” includes a child tax credit and a working tax credit".
So a Pension Credit claimant with a Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit award gets support for the child through the tax credit, not through Pension Credit. The model pays both. DWP's guidance says the same (DMG 78550): "They cannot be awarded a child addition in SPC if they have an ongoing award, or are treated as having an ongoing award, of tax credits."
Example, 2024-25: a couple aged 70 with a grandchild aged 10, State Pension of £4,000 each, earnings of £2,600 for 20 hours a week, claiming CTC and WTC. With the tax credit income test lifted by Pension Credit (#2034), they get WTC of £4,935 and CTC of £4,000. Their minimum guarantee should be 332.95 x 52 = £17,313.40 and their Guarantee Credit £2,298.40. The model adds 76.79 x 52 = £3,993.08 to both.
2. It is paid before Schedule IIA existed
Reg 6(6)(d), reg 6(11)-(17) and Schedule IIA came into force on 1 February 2019 (SI 2018/676 reg 2). Before then, support for a pensioner's child came through Child Tax Credit.
The rate parameters start on 1 February 2019, but after fiscal-year conversion they hold the 2019 rates for 2015 to 2018 as well (for example gov.dwp.pension_credit.guarantee_credit.child.first.addition is £63.84 in each of those years). So the model pays the amount in 2015-16 to 2018-19.
Scope
Tax credits ended on 5 April 2025 (gov.dwp.tax_credits.active), so the first point affects 2019-20 to 2024-25, and the second 2015-16 to 2018-19.
Found while adding the Pension Credit tax credit passport (#2034), whose tests enter the child amount as 0 by hand.
child_minimum_guarantee_additionadds the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002 Schedule IIA amount for every child or qualifying young person in a Pension Credit family. Two things are wrong.1. It is paid alongside a tax credit award
SPC Regs 2002 reg 6(6)(d) adds an amount "except where paragraph (11) applies, or entitlement ceases by virtue of paragraph (14), in accordance with Schedule IIA (additional amount applicable for claimants responsible for a child or qualifying young person)".
Reg 6(11): "This paragraph applies in the case of a person who is awarded, or who is treated as having an award of, a tax credit under the Tax Credits Act." Reg 6(17): "“a tax credit” includes a child tax credit and a working tax credit".
So a Pension Credit claimant with a Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit award gets support for the child through the tax credit, not through Pension Credit. The model pays both. DWP's guidance says the same (DMG 78550): "They cannot be awarded a child addition in SPC if they have an ongoing award, or are treated as having an ongoing award, of tax credits."
Example, 2024-25: a couple aged 70 with a grandchild aged 10, State Pension of £4,000 each, earnings of £2,600 for 20 hours a week, claiming CTC and WTC. With the tax credit income test lifted by Pension Credit (#2034), they get WTC of £4,935 and CTC of £4,000. Their minimum guarantee should be 332.95 x 52 = £17,313.40 and their Guarantee Credit £2,298.40. The model adds 76.79 x 52 = £3,993.08 to both.
2. It is paid before Schedule IIA existed
Reg 6(6)(d), reg 6(11)-(17) and Schedule IIA came into force on 1 February 2019 (SI 2018/676 reg 2). Before then, support for a pensioner's child came through Child Tax Credit.
The rate parameters start on 1 February 2019, but after fiscal-year conversion they hold the 2019 rates for 2015 to 2018 as well (for example
gov.dwp.pension_credit.guarantee_credit.child.first.additionis £63.84 in each of those years). So the model pays the amount in 2015-16 to 2018-19.Scope
Tax credits ended on 5 April 2025 (
gov.dwp.tax_credits.active), so the first point affects 2019-20 to 2024-25, and the second 2015-16 to 2018-19.Found while adding the Pension Credit tax credit passport (#2034), whose tests enter the child amount as 0 by hand.