Attendance Allowance is money from the government for people over State Pension age who need help looking after themselves. It is paid at £76.70 or £114.60 a week, and a very large number of people who qualify have never claimed it.
What makes it unusual
It is not means tested. Savings make no difference. Income makes no difference. A pension makes no difference. Whether you own your house makes no difference.
That is why the assumption that stops most people, “we have too much money for that sort of thing”, is simply wrong here. It applies to council-funded care. It does not apply to this.
You also do not have to spend it on care. There are no conditions on what you do with the money.
The two rates
| Rate | A week | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Lower | £76.70 | You need help during the day or during the night |
| Higher | £114.60 | You need help both day and night, or you are terminally ill |
Rates from GOV.UK. They are reviewed each April, so check before relying on them.
You do not have to be receiving help already
This is the second thing people get wrong. The test is whether you need help, not whether anyone is currently giving it. Someone struggling alone with nobody helping them qualifies on exactly the same terms as someone with carers visiting four times a day.
Nor does it have to be physical. Needing someone to prompt you, remind you, or keep an eye on you for your own safety all count, which matters a great deal for dementia.
Filling in the form
The claim form is long and it is the reason many people give up. Two things make it go better.
Describe your worst days, not your average ones. People instinctively play down how much they struggle, and the form is not asking you to be modest. If you can manage stairs on a good day but not on a bad one, the bad day is the answer.
Say how long things take and how often you need help. “I can wash myself” and “I can wash myself, but it takes forty minutes and I need someone there in case I fall” are very different answers to the same question.
Age UK and Citizens Advice will both help you fill it in for free, and they do it constantly. That is probably the single most useful thing in this guide.
What else it brings in
Claiming it can also increase Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction, so the money it brings in is often more than the allowance itself. It can also make Carer’s Allowance available to whoever looks after you.
If someone is terminally ill
There are special rules that pay the higher rate straight away, with no waiting period and no qualifying period. A GP or specialist completes a form. Anyone in this position should ask about it immediately rather than going through the normal process.
Under State Pension age
Attendance Allowance is for people over State Pension age. Below that, Personal Independence Payment does a similar job with a similar test, and is also not means tested.