It can be difficult to work out exactly how your benefits will be affected by a stay in hospital. We give an outline of the changes to the main benefits for older people in this section, but if you find it difficult to work out how your benefits will be affected, call our freephone advice service, SeniorLine, for guidance. Our trained advice workers can also help if you have an enquiry about a friend’s or relative’s benefits. Call SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (0808 808 7575 if you are in Northern Ireland).

Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance

Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance (care component) are suspended after 28 days in hospital. The mobility component of Disability Living Allowance will also be suspended after 28 days in hospital unless you have a Motability agreement. If you have a Motability agreement the mobility component will continue to be paid to Motability for the full term of the agreement whilst you are in hospital. Any balance which would have been paid to you will stop after 28 days.  

If you get one of these benefits and are going into hospital you must inform the Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance helpline straight away. Call it on 0845 7123 456 if you are in England, Scotland or Wales. If you are in Northern Ireland, call the Disability and Carer’s Service on 028 9090 6178 (if you get Attendance Allowance) or 028 9090 6182 (if you get Disability Living Allowance). Remember to inform it when you know that you are going to be discharged from hospital or when you are discharged so your benefits can be reinstated.

Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit may also be affected once your Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance stops. This is explained in more detail below.

Carer's Allowance

Carer’s Allowance may be affected if the person you care for goes into hospital or if you go into hospital.

If the person you care for goes into hospital, you may be able to continue to receive Carer’s Allowance for up to 12 weeks out of a 26-week period; this will depend on how long you have been caring for someone and whether you have had a break within the last 26 weeks.

If the person you care for loses their disability benefit when they are in hospital, your Carer’s Allowance will stop at the same time.

If you go into hospital, your Carer’s Allowance will stop after 12 weeks; this may be sooner if you have been in hospital or had a break within the last 26 weeks.

If the person you care for has to go into respite care, your Carer’s Allowance will stop after four weeks, unless the person can arrange a pattern of respite care that allows them to keep their Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance. In which case, you would be able to continue to receive your Carer’s Allowance.

For more information on this, call the Carer’s Allowance Unit on 01253 856123 (or call the Pension, Disability and Carer’s Service on 028 9090 6186 if you are in Northern Ireland).

Pension Credit

Pension Credit can sometimes continue to be paid indefinitely without being reduced or stopped. It is divided into two parts – guarantee credit and savings credit. You can get either or both of these, and they are affected in different ways by a stay in hospital.

Guarantee credit

If your income is below a certain level, known as the ‘appropriate minimum guarantee’, guarantee credit will make up the difference. In 2008–09 the appropriate minimum guarantee is £124.05. If you are a carer or you are severely disabled you can also receive an additional amount to reflect this.

When you are in hospital, the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit can sometimes be paid indefinitely without being reduced.

If you get the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit because you are a carer or because you are severely disabled, you may find that your guarantee credit is reduced during a stay in hospital.

• You can lose Carer’s Allowance during a lengthy stay in hospital. If you do, any extra amount of Pension Credit you get for being a carer is usually suspended eight weeks after your Carer’s Allowance stops.
• If you are single and get any extra Pension Credit for being severely disabled, this will stop after 28 days in hospital (at the same time as you lose your Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance).
• If you are part of a couple, any extra amount of Pension Credit you get for severe disability will continue to be paid, but only at the single person rate.

The examples over the page may help to explain how additional amounts of Pension Credit for people who are severely disabled or who are carers may be affected by a stay in hospital.

Example 1. Miss Smith is single, and has a retirement pension of £100 per week with no other income. She has savings of less than £6,000. When she is at home, Miss Smith receives a guarantee credit of £24.05 which take her income up to the Pension Credit level of £124.05. She is also disabled and gets Attendance Allowance. Because she is severely disabled she receives an additional amount of £50.35. Her guarantee credit is now £74.40 giving her a total of £174.40 per week. Miss Smith then has to go into hospital. After 4 weeks in hospital she no longer receives the extra amount of guarantee credit as her Attendance Allowance is stopped. As a result Miss Smith now only receives her £100 per week pension plus £24.05 guarantee credit giving her the Pension Credit level income of £124.05 whilst she remains in hospital.

Example 2. Mr Adewole is single and has a retirement pension of £150 per week when he is at home. He has less than £6,000 in savings. He is severely disabled and he receives Attendance Allowance. Mr Adewole receives a guarantee credit of £24.70 taking his income up to the Pension Credit level for someone who is severely disabled. This gives him a total income of £174.70 per week. Mr Adewole has to go into hospital. After 4 weeks in hospital he will no longer receive an extra amount of guarantee credit because his Attendance Allowance has been stopped. He will now only receive his pension of £150 per week. He will not receive any guarantee credit. This is because his income is now above the Pension Credit level of £124.05 per week and, because he is no longer receiving Attendance Allowance, he does not qualify for any additional amount of guarantee credit.

If you lose the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit you will have to make a new claim for Council Tax Benefit (and Housing Benefit if you rent your home) as you will no longer be automatically entitled to these benefits. If you still get some guarantee credit, Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit may continue to be paid in full.

If you are in any doubt as to whether your Pension Credit will be affected by a stay in hospital, call SeniorLine on 0808 800 6565 (or 0808 808 7575 in Northern Ireland).

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Savings credit

The savings credit part of Pension Credit may not be affected when you go into hospital. However, the amount of savings credit you get might change if you lose entitlement to the extra amounts for Severe Disability Allowance or Carer’s Allowance as described earlier.

If you claim Pension Credit and are going into hospital, contact The Pension Service on 0845 606 0265 (or 0845 601 8821 if you are in Northern Ireland).

Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit

Generally, Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit will not be stopped or reduced until you have been in hospital for 52 weeks.

However, if you lose the guarantee credit part of Pension Credit, as described in the previous section, you would have to re-apply for Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit. If you still get some guarantee credit you may continue to get your Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit in full, as usual, for up to 52 weeks.

If you don’t get Pension Credit, but get severe disability premium or carer’s premium with your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, you could lose these benefits before you have spent 52 weeks in hospital. This is because these premiums depend upon whether you receive Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (care component) or Carer’s Allowance, all of which are stopped earlier on.

If you lose your severe disability premium or carer’s premium, you may also lose entitlement to Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit.

If your Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (care component) or Carer’s Allowance is stopped during a stay in hospital, contact your local council so that it can adjust your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit if this is required.

Housing Benefit will not be paid once you have been in hospital for more than a year. Council Tax Benefit will also usually stop after a year, but if your stay in hospital means that your house is unoccupied, it will be exempt from Council Tax altogether. Contact your local council to tell them about this. If you are part of a couple, you and your partner will be treated as separate claimants by this point, so your partner should claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit as if they were a single person.

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State Retirement Pension

Your State Retirement Pension will be paid in full for the whole time you are in hospital, no matter how long you stay.

Previously, State Retirement Pension was ‘downrated’ after you had been in hospital for over 52 weeks. This rule was abolished as of 10 April 2006.

Other benefits

Some other benefits are paid in full for your whole stay in hospital. These benefits are:

• Incapacity Benefit
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Bereavement Allowance
• Widowed Mother’s Allowance/Widowed Parent’s  Allowance
• Widow’s Pension
• Industrial Death Benefit
• Unemployability Supplement.
  

War Disablement Pension can often be increased when you go into hospital, if the treatment is for the war injury. For more information call the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency Helpline on 0800 169 2277. If you get Income Support (for people aged under 60) this will be affected by a stay in hospital in the same way as Pension Credit.