Q My wife and I have weekly State Pensions of £91.64 and £57.65 and my War pension is £135.54 a month. I had a stroke at 56. Am I receiving all I should?

A Unless you have considerable savings, you should be due Pension Credit and Council Tax Benefit. If your savings are less than £6,000, for example, you will receive £15.34 a week Pension Credit and probably a full council tax rebate. If your stroke has left you needing a lot of personal care, you should also claim Attendance Allowance.

Q Are my parents getting their full entitlements? My dad receives State Pension of £99.25, Pension Credit of £16.55 a week and a monthly work pension of £85.28. As he is a bilateral amputee, he receives Attendance Allowance and mobility payments. My mother has a State Pension of £51.20 a week. Their council tax bill is £54.33 for the year.

A If your mother cares for your dad for 35 hours a week or more, she could claim underlying entitlement to Carer's Allowance. This would give them another £20 a week Pension Credit. You should query the council tax. They should be paying nothing.

Q I am 81 with a State Pension of £84.75 and £30.82 a week from BT. I have Pension Credit of £11.79 a week, savings of £5,500 and my council tax is £549.25. Is this correct?

A Your Pension Credit is spot on, but you are paying far too much council tax. After deduction of benefit, you should only pay £66 a year.

Q I have applied for a reduction to our £1,000-a-year council tax many times without success. I have a £54-a-week State Pension and my husband has £84 a week Incapacity Benefit plus a £44-a-week works pension. Our savings are £4,000. We each get Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for lower rate care and he gets it for mobility.

A As DLA and savings of less than £6,000 are ignored, your weekly income is £182 and way below the level at which you should have to pay full council tax. You should be paying no more than £220 a year