Millions of Britons aged 66 or over and suffering from a medical condition or disability could be entitled to claim Attendance Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) worth as much as £407 a month to help with the cost of day-to-day personal care or supervision.
The state benefit is one of the most underclaimed in the UK, with as many as 3.4m people eligible for the support failing to claim it.
To qualify for Attendance Allowance, a person must be at the state pension age (currently 66) or older, resident in England, Scotland or Wales within the last two years and habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
The benefit is awarded to those with a qualifying illness or disability dependent on their needs, which might mean help with everyday tasks like getting washed and dressed, help with preparing meals or eating or help administering a prescribed medical treatment.
This means that while being diagnosed with arthritis might not in and of itself provide grounds for qualification, it will if the condition causes you pain that restricts, hinders or prohibits your activities.
You do not need to require a full-time carer for the money to be awarded, just some form of assistance with routine chores.
According to the DWP, there are 56 health conditions that might qualify you for the monthly financial assistance, a complete list of which follows.
- Arthritis
- Spondylosis
- Back Pain – other/precise diagnosis not specified
- Disease of the muscles, bones or joints
- Trauma to limbs
- Blindness
- Deafness
- Heart disease
- Chest disease
- Asthma
- Cystic fibrosis
- Cerebrovascular disease
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Epilepsy
- Neurological diseases
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Motor neurone disease
- Chronic pain syndromes
- Diabetes mellitus
- Metabolic disease
- Traumatic paraplegia/tetraplegia
- Major trauma other than traumatic paraplegia/tetraplegia
- Learning difficulties
- Psychosis
- Psychoneurosis
- Personality disorder
- Dementia
- Behavioural disorder
- Alcohol and drug abuse
- Hyperkinetic syndrome
- Renal disorders
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Bowel and stomach disease
- Blood disorders
- Haemophilia
- Multi-system disorders
- Multiple allergy syndrome
- Skin disease
- Malignant disease
- Severely mentally impaired
- Double amputee
- Deaf/blind
- Haemodialysis
- Frailty
- Total parenteral autrition
- AIDS
- Infectious diseases: Viral disease - coronavirus Covid-19
- Infectious diseases: Viral disease - precise diagnosis not specified
- Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – tuberculosis
- Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – precise diagnosis not specified
- Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – malaria
- Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – other/precise diagnosis not specified
- Infectious diseases - other/precise diagnosis not specified
- Cognitive disorder - other/precise diagnosis not specified
- Terminally ill
The benefit is made available in two tiers, a standard rate and a higher rate, awarded depending on the severity of your needs and paid out every four weeks directly to your bank or building society account.
As of April 2023, those rates are:
- Standard: £68.10 a week (£272.40 per month)
- Higher: £101.75 a week (£407 per month)
It is not means-tested and is intended to allow people a greater degree of independence and to live in their own homes for as long as possible without requiring institutional care.
You can find more information on eligibility here and access here to the Attendance Allowance claim form you will need to print off, complete and send off to the department at Freepost DWP Attendance Allowance.
For further assistance, you can call the DWP’s dedicated helpline on 0800 731 0122 from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.
You may not be eligible for Attendance Allowance if you already receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Adult Disability Payment or the care component of Disability Living Allowance.
PIP, however, might be an option for people who require additional financial support as a result of a physical or mental disability but are below pension age. You can find out more about it here.
If you already have a carer and require substantial support, they might be entitled to Carer’s Allowance, about which you can find out more here.
For more information on Attendance Allowance and assistance with applying, please visit Citizens Advice.
