Passported help: what else a qualifying award unlocks

A passported benefit is one that, once you receive it, lets you collect other help automatically. Universal Credit and Pension Credit Guarantee are the two that passport you to the widest range of extras¹. The most valuable of those extras is help with NHS costs: free prescriptions, dental treatment, wigs and fabric supports, eye tests, vouchers towards glasses or contact lenses, and help with the cost of travel for NHS treatment or a referral by a doctor or dentist¹.

That help is not automatic in the sense of arriving in the post. It is automatic in the sense that you do not have to pass a separate income test or fill in a separate application for the NHS Low Income Scheme. You show that you are on the qualifying benefit, and the entitlement follows.

The amounts involved are not trivial. A single prescription charge, a course of dental treatment and a pair of glasses can add up over a year, and the passporting rules cover all three. What follows sets out which awards unlock what, the earnings limits that decide whether Universal Credit still passports you, the schemes that sit outside the passporting system, and what to do if your income is low but you are not on one of the qualifying benefits.

What passported benefits are and which awards unlock them

The idea is simple: one award acts as proof of low income, and other schemes accept that proof instead of running their own test. Benefits which can passport you include Universal Credit and Pension Credit Guarantee¹. If you, or your partner, are in receipt of one of those benefits you may also be entitled to additional schemes and benefits¹.

The help falls into two groups. The first is health costs, which is the largest and most commonly claimed. The second is a set of local and national schemes: housing grants, help from energy efficiency grants and the Warm Home Discount Scheme⁵. These additional schemes are mainly awarded at the discretion of your local council, and can include a blue parking badge, a discount leisure pass, a bus pass, free car tax, a discounted rail card and reduced taxi fares¹.

Discretion is the important word. A passporting benefit does not entitle you to a bus pass or a Blue Badge in the way it entitles you to free prescriptions. It puts you in the group a council or scheme may choose to help, and the decision rests with them.

Some awards work differently. Child Disability Payment is not means-tested: income, savings and working do not matter⁶. That means it does not passport you on income grounds, but it can open the door to other disability-related support. If you are awarded the mobility part of PIP or ADP, it could also unlock other benefits such as a free bus pass, a Blue Badge, and the ability to lease mobility equipment⁷.

Free NHS health costs: prescriptions, dental, eye tests and travel

This is what most people come for. If you receive a passporting benefit, or you are the partner of someone who does, you get help with health costs including free NHS prescriptions, dental treatment, wigs, fabric supports, eye tests, vouchers towards the cost of glasses or contact lenses, and help with the cost of travel for NHS treatment or referral by a doctor or dentist¹.

The same package appears in the NHS Low Income Scheme, which covers NHS prescriptions, NHS dental treatment, sight tests, glasses and contact lenses, travel to receive NHS treatment, and NHS wigs and fabric supports². The two routes lead to the same list of things.

There are separate routes that have nothing to do with passporting. In England, if you are aged 60 or over you get free NHS prescriptions and sight tests⁸. Children under 18 get free NHS prescriptions, NHS dental treatment for any course of treatment that starts before their 18th birthday, NHS sight tests and NHS wigs and fabric supports, plus vouchers towards glasses or contact lenses⁹.

If you are pregnant or have recently given birth, there is a separate route to free NHS prescriptions and NHS dental care that does not depend on a passporting benefit. Maternity Action publishes guidance on this¹¹.

Universal Credit earnings limits: £435 or £935 a month

Universal Credit passports you to health costs, but only while your earnings stay under a threshold. The figure is £935 or less per month if your Universal Credit includes an element for a child, or if you have a limited capability for work or limited capability for work and work related activity². Contact, which advises families with disabled children, states the same threshold: you or your partner have a limited capability for work and your combined earnings are more than £935 per month⁴.

The £935 figure is the passporting threshold for health costs, and £344 a month is the amount you can earn while still receiving your full Universal Credit payment if you have a health condition or disability and your Universal Credit includes the housing element¹². The £435 figure is not supported by the facts available, so treat £935 as the figure to check against.

Above the threshold, the passporting stops. That does not necessarily mean your Universal Credit stops. It means the automatic route to free prescriptions and dental treatment closes, and you would need to look at the NHS Low Income Scheme instead.

There is a separate rule for surplus earnings. If you earn £2,500 or more over your limit, you have surplus earnings¹³. And the benefit cap has its own earnings exemption: you or your partner are working, you claim Universal Credit and you are earning at least £793 a month after tax and National Insurance contributions¹⁴.

Energy, housing and council schemes you may also qualify for

Beyond health costs, a passporting benefit can open the door to help with bills and housing. As well as Housing Benefit, if you receive a passported benefit you may also be entitled to housing grants and help from energy efficiency grants and the Warm Home Discount Scheme⁵.

The Winter Fuel Payment is the scheme most people ask about, and its rules have changed. Eligibility rules changed so that more people were entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment, no longer requiring a means-tested benefit [see the Winter Fuel Payment page for the current position]. The 2024 change restricted the payment to Pension Credit recipients and certain other means-tested benefits, and later rules widened it again. Because the position has moved more than once, check the current year rather than relying on what applied when you last claimed.

Housing help runs through the council. If you receive a passported benefit you may also be entitled to housing grants⁵. Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit are separate claims with their own rules, and a passporting benefit does not automatically pay them.

For people returning to the UK from abroad, you might qualify for benefits such as Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction when you return¹⁵. The habitual residence and right to reside tests still apply, and these are covered on the habitual residence test page.

In Scotland, the Scottish Welfare Fund provides Crisis Grants and Community Care Grants, with their own savings limits. For a Community Care Grant the limit is over £1,200 if the applicant is above pension age, and over £700 if the applicant or their partner is below pension age¹⁶.

Not on a passporting benefit: the NHS Low Income Scheme

If you do not receive one of the qualifying benefits listed under help with NHS costs but have a low income, you may still be eligible for some help through the NHS Low Income Scheme⁴. The scheme can help with prescriptions, dental, eye care and more¹⁷.

You do not need to apply for the NHS Low Income Scheme if you or your partner already receive certain benefits, like Guarantee Pension Credit⁴. If you are not on one of those benefits, the scheme is the route in.

The scheme produces one of two certificates. You will either receive full help through an HC2 certificate or partial help through an HC3 certificate⁴. A person who holds an HC2 certificate will be entitled to receive some or all of the following NHS services free of charge: free NHS prescriptions, free NHS dental treatment, free NHS sight tests, help with the costs of glasses or contact lenses, help with the costs of travelling to receive NHS treatment, and free NHS wigs and fabric supports¹¹.

An HC3 certificate is different. You will qualify for limited help with health costs if your income is greater than your requirements by more than half the current English prescription charge². The certificate tells you how much you must pay, and costs above this amount are waived¹⁸.

To apply, you can apply online for the NHS Low Income Scheme in England, Scotland and Wales¹⁰. If your savings are less than £6,000 you can apply online⁴. If you are not able to apply online, fill in an HC1 form, available from NHS hospitals, chemists and local Jobcentre Plus offices⁴. Sources differ on exactly where the form is stocked, so it is worth checking with your local service first.

How savings, capital and a partner affect what you get

Savings and a partner change almost everything in this area, and they change it in different ways for different benefits.

For Universal Credit, you must usually have no more than £16,000 in money, savings and investments as a single claimant or living with a partner³. Below that, capital is not ignored. Assumed income from capital is 4.35 for every £250 or part thereof between the capital disregard and the upper capital limit¹⁹. In practice, £6,500 in a savings account produces a monthly income of £8.70 (£4.35 x 2)²⁰.

For income-related ESA, you and any partner's income and savings of £6,000 or more may affect what you can get²¹. For new-style Jobseeker's Allowance, savings, capital and partner's income do not affect your entitlement to claim, though your earnings and any pension income might affect the amount you receive²².

Partners matter across the means-tested system. Your partner's income and capital may also be taken into account²⁴. For Pension Credit with a pension age partner, your partner's income and savings will be taken into account, and you may get less money if your partner has too much income, or more if they have very little²⁵.

Some benefits sit outside this entirely. Child Disability Payment is not means-tested: income, savings and working do not matter⁶. Child Benefit is excluded when benefit income is counted for tax credits²⁶, and while the benefit is not strictly means-tested, you will have to pay a high-income child benefit charge if your income is above the threshold²⁷.

Where to get free help

Several organisations give free, impartial advice on what you can claim and how to claim it. Turn2us publishes guidance on help with health costs and on how to make a claim¹⁷. Independent Age covers help with health costs for older people⁴. Contact advises families with disabled children on NHS costs⁴. Carers UK covers health and care costs for carers¹⁸. Age UK covers free prescriptions for the over-60s and how benefits are means-tested⁸. Scope covers free NHS dental treatment²⁹.

For a wider check on what you are entitled to, the checking entitlement page sets out free calculators and advisers. If a decision goes against you, the challenging a decision page explains mandatory reconsideration, and tribunal appeals covers the next stage.