Which benefit - AA or DLA?

The two main benefits for disabled people are:

•  Attendance Allowance (AA); and
•  Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

AA and DLA are tax-free. They are not means-tested and receiving one should not reduce your other benefits. In fact, you may be entitled to claim more benefits, or your other benefits may be increased. If you would like to talk to somebody about your entitlement to benefits call our free advice service, SeniorLine.

Which of these disability benefits you claim depends on your age – you cannot claim both. Both AA and DLA give you extra money to help with the costs of your personal care. DLA also has a ‘mobility component’ to help with getting around.

Are you under 65 years of age?

If you need help with personal care, or if you have difficulty getting around, you can claim DLA. See the section below on DLA for more information.

Are you aged 65 or over and making your first claim?

You can claim AA for help with personal care. But you cannot get help with your mobility needs. See below for more information.

Were you receiving DLA before your 65th birthday?

If so, you should continue to get DLA if you need help with personal care, rather than claiming AA. You will only be able to get help with mobility if your problems began before you were 65. See the section below on DLA for more information.

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Special rules for people who are terminally ill

If you are diagnosed with a terminal illness (and a doctor certifies that you are unlikely to live for more than six months) you can claim the highest rate of AA or DLA care component at once – without meeting any other qualifying condition. If you know someone who is terminally ill, and they haven’t been told, you can claim for them without them knowing.

Under special rules, AA or DLA will usually be awarded for a fixed period of three years. When these three years have passed, you will be asked to renew your claim.  See the section on claiming AA or DLA for details on how to claim.

Attendance Allowance (AA)

If you are 65 or over and you need help with personal care, you should normally apply for Attendance Allowance (AA). There is no upper age limit.

You can claim AA if you need help with personal care from another person or if you need someone to supervise or watch over you. You do not have to be actually getting help from anyone. What is important is that you need help.

You must normally have needed this help for six months. If it has not yet been six months but you are likely to continue needing help for some time, claim now so that you can get AA as soon as you are entitled. If you are diagnosed as terminally ill and claim AA under the ‘special rules’ you will automatically get the highest rate, usually for a fixed period of three years, without needing to fulfil any other conditions.

Higher and lower rates

There are two rates of Attendance Allowance. The amount of AA you receive depends on how much help and the type of help you need. You are not automatically entitled to AA because you have a particular illness or disability.

• Higher rate: £67 per week
  To qualify for the higher rate you need to fulfil certain conditions for help during the day and the night. These conditions are explained over the next few pages.
  
• Lower rate: £44.85 per week
  To qualify for the lower rate you need to fulfil the conditions for help either during the day or during the night. There are special rules for some kidney dialysis patients to help them qualify.

For further information see our more detailed section on claiming 'Attendance Allowance'.

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Help during the day

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says that to qualify for AA by day you must:

• need frequent attention throughout the day in connection with your bodily functions; or
  
• need continual supervision throughout the day to avoid substantial danger to yourself or others.

When you send off your claim form, a DWP decision-maker will look at it and decide whether you meet either of these conditions. You must fully meet one of them to get your benefit – it is not enough to partly fulfil both. The DWP will aim to give you a decision within 39 working days (this does not include weekends or bank holidays). The words used by the DWP in these conditions mean quite specific things to the decision-maker. These meanings are given below.

For the first condition:

• ‘frequent’ means that you need help frequently and throughout the day. It means you need help several times during the daytime, not just once or twice.
  
• ‘attention’ is usually hands-on help from another person to do the personal things you cannot do yourself. The attention you need must be in relation to your bodily functions. But it can also mean encouraging or prompting: for example, if you have dementia, you might need prompting to dress or take your medication, even though you are physically capable of carrying out these tasks. You should mention this on your claim form.
  
• ‘bodily functions’ are, for example, eating, drinking, hearing, seeing, using the toilet, getting up, washing, dressing, communicating or taking medication. But it does not usually include general household tasks such as cooking, cleaning and shopping.

For the second condition:

• ‘continual’ does not mean non-stop; it usually means regular or frequent but with breaks.
  
• ‘supervision’ means that someone oversees or watches over you. You must need this supervision to avoid the risk of ‘substantial danger’ to you or another person and you need to say what this danger might be: for example, you may have dementia and be at risk of leaving your cooker on and starting a fire.
  
  Even if you only occasionally find yourself in a dangerous situation, you may still need continual supervision: for example, if you have epilepsy you could be likely to have a seizure at any time, even though there are long periods when you are fine. 
  
  You need not have ever caused danger to yourself or others as long as there is a real risk of this happening and the danger is not too remote a possibility.

In both cases:

• ‘throughout the day’ means in the middle of the day as well as in the morning and evening. But you do not have to need attention or supervision all day or every day. It is the pattern of care needed over a period of time which is important.

Remember, it is the need for care that is important. You do not have to be receiving help to qualify.

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Help during the night

The DWP says that to qualify for AA by night you must:

• need prolonged or repeated attention in connection with your bodily functions; or
• need another person to be awake for a prolonged period or at frequent intervals for the purpose of watching over you to avoid substantial danger to yourself or others.

You must fully meet one of these conditions to get your benefit. Again, the words here have specific meanings:

• for the first condition, ‘prolonged’ usually means periods of 20 minutes or more and ‘repeated’ is usually twice or more.
• for the second condition ‘frequent intervals’ usually means at least three times.

You do not have to need attention or supervision every night. It is the pattern of care needed over a period of time which is important.

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There are three rates of DLA care component:

• Highest rate: £67 per week
  To qualify for the highest rate you need to fulfil the same conditions as for the higher rate of Attendance Allowance. 
• Middle rate: £44.85 per week
  To qualify for the middle rate you need to fulfil the same conditions as for the lower rate of Attendance Allowance.
• Lowest rate: £17.75 per week

The DWP says that to qualify for the lowest rate of DLA care component:

• you need help with your bodily functions from another person for a significant portion of the day; or
• you cannot prepare a cooked main meal for yourself if you have the ingredients.

In the first condition, ‘significant portion of the day’ usually means about one hour. You may need help just once or a number of times as long as the total time is around an hour or more.

For the second condition it doesn’t matter if you do not normally cook. What is important is whether you are able to carry out all the tasks normally involved in planning and cooking a meal for one, such as peeling, chopping, lifting, using the cooker or taps – and do so safely without requiring help. If you can prepare a cooked main meal for yourself on some days but not on others you may still qualify.

DLA mobility component

You can claim the mobility component of DLA if you have difficulty walking or getting about. You must have had mobility problems for the three months immediately before you claim and expect to have the same difficulties for six months afterwards. People who are terminally ill and claiming under the ‘special rules’ do not have to fulfil either of these qualifying periods, but they do have to fill in the questions that cover mobility in the claim form.

Mobility component is paid at two rates – higher and lower.

Higher rate: £46.75 per week

To qualify for the higher rate you must be unable to walk, virtually unable to walk, or face serious danger to your health or life from the physical exertion of walking.

You should qualify for the higher rate if you can walk but find that doing so causes you severe discomfort; and if you are very limited in the distance you can walk, the speed you can walk, the time you can walk for, and the manner in which you walk.

The DWP will take into account ability to walk using artificial limbs or aids, if you normally use any of these.

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Some people will automatically qualify for the higher rate. They include people under 65 who are:

• without both feet or legs, either from birth or due to amputation; or
• both profoundly deaf and blind; or 
• severely mentally impaired with extremely disruptive and dangerous behavioural problems and getting the highest rate of the care component.

If you are claiming for the higher rate of the mobility component because you are both deaf and blind, you will be referred to a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) doctor who will assess your hearing loss and loss of vision.

Motability is an organisation which helps people who are claiming the higher rate mobility component of DLA, or the War Pensioner’s Mobility Supplement, to purchase or lease a suitable car, powered wheelchair or scooter. Your DLA may not cover all the costs. You may have to pay a deposit or for the cost of adaptations. And you will have to pay for some of the running costs. Check exactly what you will need to pay before committing yourself. For more information contact: Motability, City Gate House, 22 Southwark Bridge Road, London, SE1 9HB. For enquiries about the purchase or lease of a suitable car call 0845 456 4566. For enquiries about purchasing or leasing a powered wheelchair or scooter call route2mobility on 0845 607 6260. More information about the scheme is available on its website at www.motability.co.uk

Lower rate: £17.75 per week

To get the lower rate of the mobility component you must require guidance or supervision from another person when walking outdoors in unfamiliar places. This could be because of a mental health problem or a physical disability: for example, you may need someone who can help you if you become disorientated or have a panic attack; or you may be blind and need someone to help you avoid obstacles and cross roads.

The lower rate of the mobility component is different from the higher rate. It is not based on your physical ability to walk: for example, if you have pain when you are walking, but do not qualify for the higher rate of the mobility component, you will not necessarily be eligible for the lower rate.

Our free advice leaflet, Keeping Mobile, gives further details on equipment you can use and help available for people with reduced mobility.

Continuing to claim DLA after you are 65

If you are aged 65 and over, need help with personal care and are claiming for the first time, you should claim Attendance Allowance.

If you were already getting DLA before your 65th birthday you should continue to be paid DLA. When you turn 65, there are some special rules you need to note.

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Help with personal care

• If you are already getting DLA care component when you reach 65 it will continue to be paid. If your care needs increase, you can apply for a higher rate. If your care needs decrease you can go from the highest rate to the middle rate but not to the lower rate. 
• If you are getting DLA mobility component when you turn 65 and you now need help with personal care, you should claim the care component of DLA rather than AA. If your care needs started after your 65th birthday, you can only get the highest or middle rate of the care component.

Help with mobility needs

• You cannot get help with your mobility difficulties if they started after your 65th birthday.
• If you are receiving DLA mobility component when you turn 65 you can continue to claim it. But you can only stay with the rate you got before you were 65; you cannot move up or down a rate.
• If you were getting DLA care component before you turned 65, you can claim the mobility component after your 65th birthday, but only if your mobility difficulties began before you were 65.

Claiming AA or DLA

To claim AA or DLA for the first time, ring the Benefit Enquiry Line free on 0800 88 22 00 (textphone 0800 24 33 55) for a claim pack. If you are in Northern Ireland call 0800 22 06 74 (textphone 0800 22 06 74). The form will be date-stamped. You should fill it in and return it within six weeks. If your claim is successful your benefit will be paid from the date on the form.

If you prefer, you can ask for the form to be filled in for you over the phone and then posted to you. You will then need to check it carefully and sign it. If you are going to get your form filled in over the phone it is a good idea to get some advice beforehand. Make sure you have had time to think about your disability and how it affects you, and prepare what you are going to say. You can ask for someone to visit you to fill in the form if you can’t use the phone.

AA and DLA are not means-tested, so it doesn’t matter how much money you have coming in each week or how much you have in savings. Getting AA or DLA won’t mean that you get less Pension Credit or less help with your housing costs. In fact, it may increase the amount of Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit you can get. If you have been turned down for these benefits before, you might be entitled to them if you get AA or DLA. See our free advice leaflet, Can You Claim It?, for more information.

Filling in your form

You can increase your chances of getting AA or DLA if you get some help filling in your claim form. Ask for help from your local Citizens Advice Bureau, disability organisation or an advice centre. If you need the address or phone number of a local advice agency call SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland).

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The DLA form is very long and comes in several parts. The AA form is shorter, but you still need to allow yourself plenty of time to fill it in. What you say on the form is very important. Try not to play down your disability – don’t think something is too trivial to mention. It’s also important to remember to write down the help you need, not the help you actually get.

You may find it useful to keep a diary for a few days before filling in the form. Time how long it takes you to do things and make a note of all the tasks that you need help with. It is quite reasonable to say that you need help if a task takes you a very long time to do or is a real struggle. This will help you to fill in the form in as much detail as possible so the decision-maker has a good idea of what help you need. If you would like more information on claiming AA see our information sheet no. 3, Attendance Allowance.

When considering your claim, the DWP may ask your doctor, social worker, occupational therapist, or someone else who knows you, for more information about your disability, or a DWP doctor may visit you.

If you are terminally ill you do not need to fill in all the sections of the form. You should read the notes in the claim pack on claiming under the ‘special rules’.

Keep a copy of your claim form. It could be useful if you want to appeal or ask for a revision.

Appeals and awards

If your claim for DLA or AA is turned down, or if you get a lower rate than you think you should, you can ask for the decision to be revised or appeal against it. But you must act quickly, within one month, and it is important to seek
advice. Contact SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland) or a Citizens Advice Bureau.

AA or DLA can be awarded for a fixed period or be ‘indefinite’. Six months before the end of a fixed-period award you will be asked to renew your claim. Even an indefinite award may be reviewed by the DWP if it has evidence that the award was wrong, or if your circumstances have changed. You should always seek advice if this happens.

Court decisions in the past few years mean that more people, especially those who are deaf or blind, may now qualify for DLA and AA than in the past. So you should consider applying even if you have been refused before.

Claiming for other people

Normally the person claiming the benefit must sign the claim form themselves, although anyone can help them to fill it in. But in certain situations somebody can claim benefit on their  behalf.

If the person who needs the benefit is terminally ill and is not aware of their condition, somebody else can claim on their behalf under the ‘special rules’. The benefit will still be paid to the claimant but they need not know what has been put on the form or that they are claiming under the ‘special rules’.

If the person needing benefit is not mentally capable of making decisions about their affairs, or they are so ill or disabled that they are unable to sign the form, another person such as a friend or relative can be appointed to act on their behalf. This person is called an appointee. To become an appointee you need to speak to the DWP, which can then authorise you to act for the claimant. If the person acting on the claimant’s behalf has a registered lasting power of attorney or receivership, they do not need to apply to become an appointee.