Background to the Act Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG)
9.The MIG arrangements are Income Support for people, aged 60 or over, who are not required actively to seek work and whose income is below a certain level.  From April 2002, the guaranteed level is £98.15 a week for a single person and £149.80 for a couple.  The MIG payment makes up the difference between the guaranteed level and income from other sources, including income from pensions.  The MIG level is set higher for carers and those with certain disabilities.
10.As is the case for other categories of Income Support, the amount of MIG payable is affected by people’s savings.
	The actual income from savings is not used in calculating income.
	Where savings are in the band £6,000 to £12,000, each £250 of savings in excess of £6,000 is assumed to generate £1 a week of income and this is the amount included in the income calculation. (For those in residential care and nursing homes, the band is £10,000 to £16,000, instead of £6,000 to £12,000.)
	MIG is not available to those who have savings of more than £12,000 (more than £16,000 for those in residential care and nursing homes).
11.A single person or, in the case of a couple, one member of the couple can claim MIG. About 1.7 million pensioner households currently receive payments under MIG.