Attendance Allowance: A Plain English Guide for Families

What Attendance Allowance actually is

Attendance Allowance is a weekly payment from the Department for Work and Pensions for people over State Pension age who need help with washing, dressing, eating, toileting, moving safely around the home, or who need someone to keep an eye on them to prevent harm. It exists to recognise the cost of needing care, so there are no rules about how you spend it.

Crucially, it is paid on the basis of the help you need, not the help you receive. Many older people who manage alone, slowly and with difficulty, assume they do not qualify. They usually do. Nobody has to be caring for you already, and you do not have to be spending money on care to claim.

• Not means tested: savings, income, pensions and property are irrelevant
• Tax free and paid directly into your bank account, usually every four weeks
• Does not reduce your State Pension or Pension Credit
• Can increase Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction
• Paid whether you live alone, with family, or with a live-in carer

The two rates and which one applies

There are two rates. The lower rate is for people who need frequent help or supervision during the day, or during the night, but not both. The higher rate is for people who need help or supervision both day and night, or who are nearing the end of life.

Night needs are the ones families most often forget to describe. Getting up for the toilet with an unsteady gait, needing repositioning, calling out in confusion, or needing someone within earshot in case of a fall all count as night needs. If both day and night support is genuinely needed, apply for the higher rate rather than settling for the lower one.

How to complete the form well

The claim form is long and the questions invite short answers, which is exactly what costs people money. The assessor cannot see your relative. They can only read the description you give, so describe the worst realistic day rather than the best one, and describe the help needed rather than the diagnosis.

Write about time, safety and repetition. How many minutes does washing and dressing take with help, and how long without it? How many times a night does the person get up? What has happened when they have tried to manage alone, such as a fall, a missed medication, a burn, or a wandering episode? Concrete examples carry far more weight than 'struggles with mobility'.

• Keep a two week diary of help needed before you write anything
• Describe the worst realistic day, not an unusually good one
• Count supervision and prompting as help, because it counts in law
• Include falls, near misses, missed medication and confusion at night
• Ask the GP, district nurse or care manager to support the claim

The special rules for people nearing the end of life

If someone has a terminal illness and is not expected to live more than twelve months, they can claim under the special rules. The claim is fast tracked, paid at the higher rate automatically, and does not require the long care questions to be completed. A clinician provides an SR1 form.

Families arranging palliative care at home should ask the GP or hospice nurse about this on the first conversation. It is one of the few parts of the benefits system that moves quickly, and the money can be in place within a fortnight.

How families use the money towards care

Attendance Allowance rarely covers a full care package on its own, but it takes a meaningful bite out of one. Families commonly use it to fund a daily morning visit, a weekly sitting service so a spouse can get out, a night check, or the shortfall on a live-in placement.

With visiting care from £22 an hour, the higher rate covers a useful number of hours each month. Because the payment is not means tested, it stacks with local authority funding and does not disqualify anyone from a council assessment. If you are also being means tested by the council, Attendance Allowance is usually treated as income, so it is worth taking benefits advice before you finalise a package.

What to do if the claim is refused

Refusals are common and are frequently overturned. Ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month, and use the opportunity to add the detail the original form lacked, particularly around night needs and supervision. Attach a care diary, a GP letter or a falls record.

Age UK, Citizens Advice and your local carers centre will all help with this at no cost, and our care managers regularly point families towards them. We do not charge for benefits guidance and we do not take a cut of anything you are awarded.