Attendance Allowance<\/a> is paid at two weekly rates depending on how much help you need:<\/p>\n\u00a376.70 a week (lower rate)\u00a3114.60 a week (higher rate)<\/p>\n
That works out at up to \u00a35,959 a year.<\/p>\n
The lower rate applies if you need help either during the day or night, while the higher rate is for those needing care both day and night \u2013 or who are terminally ill.<\/p>\n
What counts as needing help?<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t need to have a carer \u2013 just to show you would benefit from support.<\/p>\n
This could include:<\/p>\n
Help washing, dressing or eatingSupervision due to memory problems or confusionRisks such as falling, leaving appliances on, or wanderingConditions like dementia, hearing or sight lossEven needing someone to check on you regularly can be enough.A surprising extra<\/p>\n
Unlike many benefits, the money is tax-free and doesn\u2019t reduce other payments. In fact, it can actually increase entitlement to other support such as pension credit, housing benefit or council tax help.<\/p>\n
However, councils may take it into account when assessing how much you should contribute towards care costs.<\/p>\n
How to claim<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll need to fill in a detailed form, available via the Attendance Allowance helpline or by post.<\/p>\n
Be prepared \u2013 the application can be lengthy, and experts advise including as much medical evidence as possible, such as:<\/p>\n
GP or consultant lettersCare plansPrescription details<\/p>\n
Decisions typically take a few weeks, and if you\u2019re turned down you have one month to challenge it through a \u201cmandatory reconsideration\u201d.<\/p>\n
Why so many miss out<\/p>\n
Despite the sizeable sums on offer, thousands fail to claim because they assume:<\/p>\n
They earn too muchThey don\u2019t have a formal diagnosisThey don\u2019t have a carerBut none of these automatically disqualify you.<\/p>\n
Details can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Millions of Brits could be missing out on a tax-free payout worth up to \u00a35,959 a year \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2898,4029,84,2215,176804,87400,87399,4176,4174,4175,2221,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-503991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-attendance-allowance","9":"tag-benefits","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-dwp","12":"tag-dwp-2026","13":"tag-dwp-latest","14":"tag-dwp-news","15":"tag-finance","16":"tag-personal-finance","17":"tag-personalfinance","18":"tag-state-pension","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}