Attendance Allowance is a benefit distributed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for people over state pension age (currently 66) who need support with personal care or supervision due to having an illness or a disability.
Up to 1.6 million pensioners were claiming the benefit in 2022, recent Government statistics show, but it’s thought that millions more may be eligible but aren’t seeking support.
While high living costs continue to squeeze budgets, Britons are being urged to check if they’re claiming all of the financial support they’re entitled to, and Attendance Allowance has broad eligibility criteria.
There are 56 medical conditions that could deem a person eligible for Attendance Allowance and at its highest rate, is worth £5,291 per year.
To claim, state pension-age people must have “been in” Great Britain (England, Scotland, or Wales) for the last two years, as well as be habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands.
READ MORE: PIP claimants could qualify extra support worth thousands
The full list of 56 conditions that can qualify for Attendance Allowance include:
- 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.
A claimant must have been needed for the past six months unless the person has less than 12 months to live.
According to the DWP, people also don’t need to have had a diagnosis for their condition to apply. As long as they’ve needed help for at least six months because of their condition, they can claim it.
However, Britons won’t be able to get Attendance Allowance if they already receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Adult Disability Payment (ADP), or the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
Attendance Allowance rates 2023
Attendance Allowance is paid at two rates, the lower rate and the higher rate. Payment rates are based on how much help is needed, not any current help the person does or doesn’t get.
The lower and higher payment rates are:
- Lower rate: £68.10 per week (up from £61.85)
- Higher rate: £101.75 per week (up from £92.40).
This means at its highest rate, people could get payment of up to £441 a month.
People who need help during the day or at night could be eligible for the lower rate, whereas people who need help during both the day and at night or have a terminal illness, could be eligible for the higher rate.
To claim, people need to fill out an Attendance Allowance form, which can be accessed by either calling the helpline on 0800 731 0122 or downloading it from the Government website, here.
