Attendance Allowance (2026/27): Who Qualifies, the Two Rates and How to Claim

What it is

A weekly payment for needing help, paid to the person who needs it

Attendance Allowance is a benefit from the Department for Work and Pensions for people over State Pension age whose health means they need help with personal care, or somebody watching over them, by day or by night. It is paid to the person, not to a carer, and they can spend it however they like.

The day test

Frequent help through the day with everyday personal tasks, or somebody keeping an eye on them to keep them safe

Help getting up, washed and dressed, and again at bedtime
Somebody to cut up food, prompt them to eat, or make sure they drink
Help getting to and from the toilet, or with continence
Reminders and encouragement to take tablets, or to get up at all
A hand on the stairs, in and out of a chair, or around the house
Somebody within reach because they fall, get confused, or leave the gas on

The night test

Help at night for 20 minutes or more, or 2 or more times, or somebody awake to watch over them

Help to the toilet 2 or more times a night, or once for 20 minutes or more
Turning or repositioning in bed, or help settling after waking
Changing pads or bedding during the night
Somebody awake to check on them 3 or more times, because of falls or wandering
Somebody up for a long spell to calm agitation or confusion

Lower rate

Help in the day, or help at night

£76.70 a week

about £4,000 a year, tax free, whatever their savings

Higher rate

Help in the day and help at night

£114.60 a week

about £5,960 a year, tax free, whatever their savings

Rates for 2026/27. The test is the help the person could reasonably do with, not the help they receive, and nobody needs a carer in place to claim. Mobility outdoors on its own does not count; that is what PIP covers for people under State Pension age.

Three things about it surprise families. It is not means-tested, so income, savings and the house are never asked about, and it is paid on top of the State Pension and any private pension. It is not taxed. And it is paid for needing help rather than for receiving it, so a mother who has managed on her own for years, badly and slowly, qualifies just as much as one who already has a carer. The award is usually indefinite or for a fixed period of a few years, and it stops only if the need for help stops, or after 28 days in hospital or in a care home that the council or the NHS is paying for.

What it buys is up to the family. At what carers on PrimeCarers charge, about £20 an hour with our fee included, the lower rate pays for roughly 3 hours of help a week and the higher rate about 5, so a morning visit most days or somebody to sit with your parent while you get a break. The cost of care at home sets out what those hours tend to cost.

Who qualifies

The help that counts, and the things that do not decide it

To qualify, your parent must be over State Pension age, must have needed the help for 6 months (or be claiming under the special rules), must have lived in Great Britain for 2 of the last 3 years, and must not already get PIP, DLA or the Scottish equivalents. Everything else comes down to one question: what help could they reasonably do with, day and night?

Hands-on help with personal care

Washing, bathing, dressing, getting in and out of bed, eating and drinking, going to the toilet, taking medication. The law calls these bodily functions, and help with any of them counts.

Reminding, prompting and encouragement

Somebody has to tell them it is time to wash, put the tablets in their hand, or coax them to eat. Verbal help counts as much as physical help, which matters a great deal with dementia and depression.

Somebody keeping an eye on them

Being within reach to prevent harm: because they fall, get confused, have seizures, wander, or leave the hob on. Continual does not mean every minute; breaks of an hour or so are fine.

Help because of sight or hearing

Seeing and hearing are bodily functions too. Somebody to read the post, check sell-by dates and set the cooker, or to help them communicate, all counts.

Help moving around at home

Walking counts, at home and when visiting others: a hand on the stairs, help in and out of a chair or a car, or with a frame or wheelchair. Getting about outdoors on its own is a PIP matter, not this one.

Help they need but do not get

The test is the help they could reasonably do with, not the help they receive. Somebody who lives alone and struggles through, or who refuses help they plainly need, still qualifies.

The day test asks whether they need that help frequently through the day, or somebody keeping an eye on them continually to avoid danger. The night test asks whether they need help at night for a prolonged spell, which means 20 minutes or more, or repeatedly, which means 2 or more times, or whether somebody has to be awake to watch over them. Meeting either test brings the lower rate. Meeting both brings the higher rate. Somebody with dementia who is safe in bed at night but cannot be left alone in the day, for example, meets the day test and gets the lower rate; somebody who also gets up confused three times a night meets both.

How to claim

Three ways to claim, and why the claim date matters

The rules are the same whichever route you use. What differs is the day the claim starts from, and since the money is paid from that day, it is worth choosing deliberately. Attendance Allowance cannot be backdated to before the claim.

The three ways to claim Attendance Allowance

	Phone for the form	Claim online	Print and post
When the claim starts	The day you call, as long as the form is back within 6 weeks	The day you submit it online	The day the DWP receives the completed form
What you fill in	The 32-page AA1 form the DWP posts to you, date-stamped	The same questions as the paper form, on screen; take a photo of each page as you go	The AA1 form printed from gov.uk, or one from Age UK or Citizens Advice
Extra evidence	Attach it to the form	Post it separately, with the name and National Insurance number on every page	Attach it to the form
Who it suits	Most families: the date is protected while you take time over the form	A relative doing the claim for them from a laptop, in one or two sittings	When you already have a form and it is ready to go
In Scotland	Pension Age Disability Payment instead	Apply for Pension Age Disability Payment instead	Pension Age Disability Payment instead

When the claim starts

Phone for the form: The day you call, as long as the form is back within 6 weeks
Claim online: The day you submit it online
Print and post: The day the DWP receives the completed form

What you fill in

Phone for the form: The 32-page AA1 form the DWP posts to you, date-stamped
Claim online: The same questions as the paper form, on screen; take a photo of each page as you go
Print and post: The AA1 form printed from gov.uk, or one from Age UK or Citizens Advice

Extra evidence

Phone for the form: Attach it to the form
Claim online: Post it separately, with the name and National Insurance number on every page
Print and post: Attach it to the form

Who it suits

Phone for the form: Most families: the date is protected while you take time over the form
Claim online: A relative doing the claim for them from a laptop, in one or two sittings
Print and post: When you already have a form and it is ready to go

In Scotland

Phone for the form: Pension Age Disability Payment instead
Claim online: Apply for Pension Age Disability Payment instead
Print and post: Pension Age Disability Payment instead

Helpline 0800 731 0122, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. The online claim is at apply-for-attendance-allowance.dwp.gov.uk. Posted forms go to Freepost DWP Attendance Allowance, with nothing else written on the envelope and no stamp.

If your parent has needed help for six months already, claim now and say on the form when the help started. If the need is more recent, still claim now: the DWP takes weeks to decide, and payment simply starts once the six months are up. You can fill in the form for them and they sign it, or if you are their appointee or hold a Lasting Power of Attorney you can sign it yourself.

What happens next

From the claim to the money, step by step

Most claims are decided on the form alone. The DWP contacts you within 3 weeks to say when to expect a decision, and may ring the GP or somebody you named. A visit from a healthcare professional happens sometimes, a medical examination rarely.

A step you take, or the DWP takesThe decision

Step 1
Pick a route and fix the claim date
Online, or phone 0800 731 0122 for a date-stamped form, or print and post. The phone route protects the date while you take time over the form. Claim now even if the six months are not up yet.
Step 2
Fill in the form from the worst days
Every task, how many times a day and night, how long it takes, and what goes wrong without help. Ask somebody who knows them to complete the statement section, and enclose any GP summary or specialist letters you have.
Step 3
The DWP looks at it
You are contacted within 3 weeks to say when to expect a decision. The DWP may ring the GP or somebody named on the form, and occasionally sends a healthcare professional to visit. A medical examination is not usual.
Step 4
The decision letter
Lower rate, higher rate, or no award, with reasons and the length of the award, which can be indefinite or for a fixed period with a renewal form about four months before it ends.
What decides it
Whether the help needed meets the day test, the night test, or both, on what the form and the evidence describe.
If it is awarded
£76.70 a week for the day or the night test, £114.60 for both, paid four-weekly into their account from the claim date once the six months are up.
Step 5
The money arrives, and it is theirs to spend
No receipts, no conditions. Most families put it towards a carer, a cleaner, taxis to appointments, or the extra heating and laundry that a health condition brings.
Step 6
Tell the other benefit offices
An award can add £86.05 a week to Pension Credit, more Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction, and lets a family carer claim Carer's Allowance. None of that happens by itself; make the claims and tell the council.

Before the form

A week of notes, and what to have to hand

The form asks how many times a day and night your parent needs help with each task, and how long it takes. Nobody can answer that from memory. A week of notes before you start turns a vague form into a strong one, and it is the single thing Age UK and Citizens Advice both ask families to do first.

Filling it in

How to answer the questions so the need is plain

Applications are refused because the person filling them in is modest. The form should describe the worst days, in detail, with numbers, and it should assume the reader knows nothing about your parent. Repetition does not matter; missing things out does.

Do

Describe a bad day, then say how many days a week are like that
Count: how many times a day they need help to the toilet, how many times a night they get up, how long dressing takes
Say what happens without help: the fall, the missed tablets, the meal not eaten, the wet bed
Include prompting and reminding, and the times somebody has to be within reach to keep them safe
List every condition and every medicine, then concentrate on the effect on daily life
Use the extra space and add pages if you need to, with their name and National Insurance number on each one
Ask a nurse, GP or somebody who sees them often to complete the statement from someone who knows you
Keep a copy of the whole form, or photograph every page of the online claim

Try not to

Write "manages" when what you mean is slowly, painfully, or with somebody hovering
Answer for a good day, or let your parent answer for the version of themselves they would like to be
Leave the night section thin because they "usually sleep through"; say what happens on the nights they do not
Describe housework, shopping and gardening on their own; they do not count unless they show a wider limit
Assume the DWP will ring the GP to fill the gaps. Sometimes it does; the form should stand on its own
Wait until the six months are up before claiming

The questions about each task ask whether your parent has difficulty or needs help, how often, and how long it takes. Answer all three every time. Where they use an aid, a frame, a raised toilet seat, a grab rail, say what help they still need despite it. Where they refuse help they plainly need, say so; the test is what they could reasonably do with. And where the condition is dementia, depression or anxiety, remember that encouragement and supervision count in law as much as a hand on the arm, so describe the reminding, the coaxing and the keeping-an-eye as carefully as the washing and dressing.

What it unlocks

The other money an award opens the door to

An award of Attendance Allowance is often worth more than the allowance itself, because it is the key to several other things. None of them happen automatically. The DWP does not tell the council, and Pension Credit is not reviewed unless somebody asks.

Pension Credit, and its £86.05 severe disability addition

Attendance Allowance is ignored as income for Pension Credit, and an award can add a severe disability addition of £86.05 a week if they live alone (or only with people who are ignored) and nobody is paid Carer's Allowance for looking after them. Somebody refused Pension Credit before may qualify now, so claim again.

Carer's Allowance for the family member

A son, daughter or partner caring 35 hours or more a week can claim £86.45 a week, if their own earnings are £204 or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses. It cancels the severe disability addition above, so a family with both should work out which is worth more.

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction

Both ignore Attendance Allowance as income, and both can go up once it is awarded, because the deductions for other adults in the household stop. Tell the council; it will not know by itself.

The council's means test for care at home

The one place it is counted. If the council charges for care at home, Attendance Allowance is treated as income in the financial assessment, but the council must then allow for the extra costs a disability brings, and savings under £23,250 still decide whether the council pays at all.

If refused

Challenging a decision, and the deadlines that apply

A refusal, or the lower rate where the higher was deserved, is usually a form that did not say enough rather than a person who does not qualify. Many decisions are changed when the DWP looks again or a tribunal hears the case, and the free advice agencies win a good share of them. The time limits are short.

1
Ask for the decision in writing, with reasons
Straight away
The DWP may phone to explain a decision. Say that you want a written decision and that you intend to ask for a mandatory reconsideration, so the clock and the paperwork are clear.
2
Ask for a mandatory reconsideration
Within 1 month
Within one month of the date on the decision letter, ask the DWP to look again, by phone, letter or the form on gov.uk. Say which parts of the decision are wrong and send anything that was missing: the diary, a GP letter, a statement from a carer. A late request can be accepted if there is a good reason, but do not rely on it.
3
Appeal to the tribunal
Within 1 month of the reconsideration notice
If the reconsideration does not change the decision, appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, online or on form SSCS1, within one month of the date on the mandatory reconsideration notice. It is free and independent of the DWP. Ask for a hearing rather than a decision on the papers; the panel can ask your parent, or you, what a bad day is like.
4
Get free help before you write anything
Free
Age UK (0800 678 1602), Citizens Advice and the council's welfare rights team all help with reconsiderations and appeals, and will tell you plainly whether the decision is worth challenging. Age UK's factsheet 74 covers the process in detail.
5
If the need has grown since
Any time
If your parent was given the lower rate and now needs help at night too, tell the DWP about the change rather than appealing the old decision. The rate can be looked at again from the date the need changed.

The words on the form and in the letters

Attendance: The law's word for help from another person with bodily functions: washing, dressing, eating, the toilet, moving about, taking medication, seeing, hearing and communicating.
Supervision: Somebody keeping an eye on the person to prevent substantial danger, because of falls, confusion, seizures or wandering. Continual, but with breaks.
Watching over: The night-time version of supervision: somebody awake for a prolonged spell, or getting up at frequent intervals, to check on them.
AA1: The paper claim form, 32 pages plus notes. The online claim asks the same questions.
Special rules: A faster route, with form SR1 from a clinician, for somebody who may have 12 months or less. No six-month wait and the higher rate straight away.
Appointee: Somebody the DWP has agreed can claim and manage benefits for a person who cannot manage their own. Different from an attorney under a Lasting Power of Attorney, who can also claim.
Mandatory reconsideration: The first step in challenging a decision: asking the DWP to look again, usually within one month. Only after that can you appeal to a tribunal.

Questions

Questions families ask about Attendance Allowance

£76.70 a week at the lower rate and £114.60 at the higher rate, which is about £4,000 or £5,960 a year. It is tax free, it is not means-tested and it is paid on top of the State Pension.

Anyone over State Pension age who, because of a physical or mental health condition, needs help with personal care or somebody keeping an eye on them, and has needed it for 6 months. They must have lived in Great Britain for 2 of the last 3 years and must not already get PIP, DLA or Adult Disability Payment. Savings and income do not matter, and they do not need a carer already.

The lower rate is for people who need help in the day or at night. The higher rate is for people who need help both in the day and at night. Help at night means a spell of 20 minutes or more, or 2 or more shorter spells, or somebody awake to watch over them.

Yes, and many people with dementia do. The award is for the help they need rather than the diagnosis: reminding and prompting, supervision because they are unsafe alone, help with washing and dressing, and getting up at night. Describe all of it on the form. The seven stages of dementia sets out how the need for help grows.

No. The claim form does not ask about income or savings, and an award does not reduce the State Pension or a private pension. The one place it is counted is the council's financial assessment if the council charges for care at home, and even then the council must allow for disability-related spending.

Ring 0800 731 0122 for a form, which fixes the claim date as the day you called provided the form is back within 6 weeks; or claim online at apply-for-attendance-allowance.dwp.gov.uk, which fixes it as the day you submit; or print the AA1 form from gov.uk and post it, which fixes it as the day the DWP receives it. In Scotland, apply for Pension Age Disability Payment instead.

The DWP says it will contact you within 3 weeks to tell you when to expect a decision. Most claims are decided on the form, sometimes after a call to the GP. Claims under the special rules for people who are seriously ill are usually decided in 10 to 14 days.

Yes. Talk the questions through with her, write the answers, read them back and ask her to sign. If she cannot sign because she is too unwell or lacks capacity, you can sign as her appointee or under a Lasting Power of Attorney. Age UK, Citizens Advice and many councils' welfare rights teams will fill it in with you for free, and the DWP helpline can arrange a home visit.

Only for the better. It is ignored as income for Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction, and an award can increase all three, including a severe disability addition of £86.05 a week to Pension Credit for somebody living alone. A family carer may be able to claim Carer's Allowance. Tell the council and the Pension Service about the award; they will not know by themselves.

Ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the decision letter, with the evidence that was missing. If that fails, appeal to the tribunal within one month of the reconsideration notice. Both are free, and Age UK and Citizens Advice help with both. Many refusals are overturned once the need is properly described.

Attendance Allowance