Attendance Allowance (AA) is the main disability benefit for people aged 65 and over.

• You can claim Attendance Allowance if you are aged 65 or over. There is no upper age limit for claiming. (If you have been receiving a component of Disability Living Allowance since before your 65th birthday, and you now need extra help, see section below).
• You’re not automatically entitled to AA because you have a particular illness or disability. Whether or not you get Attendance Allowance depends on how much help and the type of help you need.
• You can claim Attendance Allowance if you need help with your personal care (things such as dressing and bathing) or need someone to supervise or watch over you. You do not have to be getting help from anyone already – what is important is that you need help.
• You can get Attendance Allowance even if you are living on your own. It is up to you whether you use it to pay for somebody to care for you; you can use the extra money to pay for whatever you would find most useful. 
• Attendance Allowance is not affected by who you live with. If you are part of a couple it does not matter if your partner also claims Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance.
• You won’t normally get Attendance Allowance if you only need help with domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning and shopping. The help you need must be to do with personal care, such as bathing and dressing. Or you must need someone to watch over or supervise you to stop you from hurting yourself or others.
• You will get Attendance Allowance either indefinitely, or for a fixed period. Towards the end of the fixed period you will be sent a form to renew your claim for AA; if you do not fill in this form your benefit will stop at the end of the fixed period. 
• Attendance Allowance is tax-free and you do not need to have paid National Insurance contributions to get it.
• Attendance Allowance is paid directly to you and not to the person who looks after you (if there is anyone). If you want, you can arrange for your carer to cash it for you. A carer can also claim AA on behalf of the person they are caring for.
• Attendance Allowance will be paid in the same way as any other benefits or State Retirement Pension that you receive.
• Attendance Allowance is not means-tested, so it doesn’t matter how much money you have coming in each week. Getting Attendance Allowance will not mean that you get less Pension Credit, Council Tax Benefit or Housing Benefit (or rate rebate in Northern Ireland). In fact, it may mean that you get a higher level of these other benefits or that you become entitled to claim for the first time.

Tell your local benefits office if you’re already getting any of these benefits and you start to receive Attendance Allowance. You may find that your other benefits go up. If you’re not already on one of these benefits contact SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland) and they will advise you if it’s worth putting in a claim.

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Continuing to claim Disability Living Allowance after you are 65

If you already receive the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance you don’t need to put in a separate claim for Attendance Allowance if you have since developed care needs. Instead you should ask the Department for Work and Pensions for a supersession of your Disability Living Allowance claim. Once you are 65 you can only be considered for the middle or highest rate of Disability Living Allowance care component. The qualifying rules and the amounts for the middle and highest rates are the same as for the lower and higher rates of Attendance Allowance (see below). If your care needs lessen after your 65th birthday, you cannot drop to the lowest rate – you will lose the care component altogether.

However, you can regain the lowest rate if you were previously claiming it, as long as you re-claim it within 12 months of your previous award ending. You must still satisfy the six–month qualifying period.

When you ask for a supersession you should ask the Department for Work and Pensions not to look at your mobility component. However, there is always a small chance that it might decide that you are no longer entitled to the mobility  component. So, it is always worth getting some help from an advice agency such as your local Citizens Advice Bureau before asking for a supersession.