The DWP benefit Attendance Allowance can offer older people over state pension age support due to arthritis.
The Department for Work and Pensions is paying up to £434 a month for pensioners with arthritis, which is suffered by 500,000 people. The DWP benefit Attendance Allowance can offer older people over state pension age support due to arthritis.
Attendance Allowance is a benefit paid to people aged 65 or over who have an illness or a disability, and need help with their personal care to live as normal a life as possible. Personal care may include such things as washing, dressing and going to the toilet, or supervision to keep you safe.
Attendance Allowance is a tax-free, non-means tested benefit. You can claim whether or not you are working, and it is not affected by savings or earnings. You do not have to have made National Insurance contributions to claim.
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What matters with Attendance Allowance is how much your arthritis (and any other condition you may have) affects you; it is based on the help you need — not the help you actually get. It does not matter if you receive a lot of help or support, or very little.
It is up to you how you spend the allowance. However, your local authority may take your allowance into account when assessing whether, or how much, you need to pay towards any care services they provide.
You can qualify for Attendance Allowance if you are aged 65 or over and you pass at least one of the disability tests outlined above, and have done so for the last six months. You must you pass the residence and presence tests (i.e. you are not subject to immigration control, and you normally live in the UK and have been living here for at least 104 out of the last 156 weeks –although the last ‘past presence’ test does not apply to refugees and their family).
Attendance Allowance has just one component to cover your care or supervision needs (unlike PIP or DLA, which also have mobility components). It is paid at two different rates, depending on whether you need help in the day time, or through the night, or for both day and night.