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Benefits and services factsheet

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Attendance Allowance (factsheet)

About this factsheet

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This factsheet is part of RNID's benefits range. It is written for deaf people. We use the term 'deaf people' to refer to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people throughout this factsheet.

This factsheet is for people who are aged 65 or over. If you are under 65, see our factsheet "Disability living allowance".

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This factsheet will answer the following questions:

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Most of the information in this factsheet will apply to you wherever you live in the UK. However, if you live in Northern Ireland, we advise you to call the Benefit Enquiry Line (BEL) for Northern Ireland for further advice. You can also contact RNID Northern Ireland. If you live in Scotland or Wales you may also wish to contact RNID Cymru or RNID Scotland for more local advice. See "Further information" for contact details.

What is Attendance Allowance?

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This is a tax-free benefit to help people aged 65 and over who have a disability and who need help with personal care or supervision. If you are deaf, you may be able to claim it if you need help or support to communicate. You may be able to claim it if you have care or supervision needs because you have other disabilities.

Who qualifies for Attendance Allowance?

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Attendance Allowance is not means-tested. This means that it does not matter if your income or savings are high.
It is non-contributory. This means you don't have to have made national insurance contributions to be eligible.

To qualify, you must:

be aged 65 or over
have been living in the UK, or be regarded as 'ordinarily resident'. This means that you normally live in the UK, or it is your 'settled' home. The UK means England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
satisfy one of the disability tests (see below) and have done so for the last six months.

The disability tests

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To pass the disability tests, you must meet at least one of four conditions. Attendance Allowance is paid at two rates: the lower rate and the higher rate.

To qualify for lower rate Attendance Allowance you must meet one of the day conditions or one of the night conditions.
To qualify for higher rate Attendance Allowance you must meet one of the day conditions and one of the night conditions, or you must be terminally ill.

See How much is Attendance Allowance? to find out how much is paid for the lower and higher rates of Attendance Allowance.

Day conditions

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You must be so severely disabled physically or mentally that you need from another person:

frequent attention throughout the day in connection with your bodily functions (hearing and speech are both bodily functions), or
continual supervision during the day to prevent substantial danger to yourself or other people.

Night conditions

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You must be so disabled physically or mentally that:

you need attention at night with your bodily functions for a period of 20 minutes or longer, or two to three times a night, or
to avoid substantial danger to yourself or other people, you need another person to be awake for a period of 20 minutes or longer, or two to three times a night, so they can watch over you.

How do I make a claim?

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These sections will help you if you want to claim Attendance Allowance for the first time, or if you are already getting it, but need to fill in another form because:

your award is due to run out and you are making a renewal claim; or
you have asked for an increase in your rate of Attendance Allowance.

Getting the claim form

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To claim Attendance Allowance, you need a claim form from the Benefit Enquiry Line, or the Attendance Allowance helpline at the Disability Benefits Helpline. It is best to ask for this by telephone or textphone, as the date of your phone call is recorded as the date of your claim for benefit. If you are awarded any money, it will be paid from that date.

How do I fill in the claim form?

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Before you fill in the form, it is a good idea to go to your local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) or welfare rights advice centre for advice and help.

Keep a diary

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For a couple of weeks, write down the times each day when you need help with communication or help with other bodily functions, such as dressing, washing, or cutting up food. Concentrate on your everyday routine, rather than things you don't do often. You can either use the diary to help you fill in the form or attach the diary to your application to support your claim regarding your needs.

About your illnesses or disability (part 4 of the form)

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Try to explain as much as you can about your deafness. You should give details of:

the level of your hearing loss
how long you have been deaf or hard of hearing
whether you use a hearing aid
your preferred method of communication
if you have difficulties with speech or lipreading, or both
whether you have problems understanding written English
other disabilities or health problems you may have.

More about treatment or help you receive (part 5 of the form)

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This asks for details of your GP and any other health or social care professional you have seen in the past 12 months. It also asks you for details of anyone else who helps you because of your illness or disabilities. This could be a friend, family member, or carer. The people you give details of in this section may be contacted for more information about your disability, so it is important that you pick someone who really understands the difficulties you have because you are deaf.

Help needed during the day (part 7 of the form)

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This is the most important section of the form. It asks about personal care needs and if you need supervision to avoid the risk of danger.

Don't worry if you don't have enough space to describe your communication difficulties. You can also use the space provided in Part 8 and attach extra sheets of paper if you need to.

Remember that the person making the decision will probably not know what it is like to be deaf. You need to describe your everyday life so that whoever is looking at your form can really imagine what your life is like.

Care needs

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Explain in detail about all the times when you need help from another person with your daily living tasks or 'bodily functions'. Bodily functions can be physical tasks, such as washing, dressing, using the toilet, cutting up food or moving around the house. Someone else doing your housework and shopping is not taken into account. Bodily functions can also be sensory functions – for example, seeing, hearing and speaking.

Communication needs

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If you need help to communicate with other people this counts as 'attention' with your 'bodily functions' of hearing and/or speaking.
Help with communication only counts as attention if you have someone helping you in your presence, such as:

a British Sign Language (BSL)/English interpreter – a trained professional who uses BSL or Sign Supported English (SSE) and English
a lipspeaker
a communication support worker (CSW)
a speech-to-text reporter.

When you use a BSL/English interpreter, the interpreter has to have breaks (periods of rest). You need to say how often and for how long the interpreter has to have their breaks because the breaks mean that communication can take much longer. Explain why an alternative to an interpreter – such as using handwritten notes – may not be suitable. For example, the conversation may be long or about a complicated subject.

Using friends and family to help with communication

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If you use friends and family informally to help with communication, it is important that you describe how much informal help you need. You may need help from a hearing person:

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to communicate with people who have difficulty making themselves understood to you, or who find it difficult to understand your speech
to explain some gestures or body language used by hearing people if you don't understand them
to explain some television programmes even when they are subtitled
to give you important information from the radio
to explain conversations, especially if several people are speaking and you cannot see who is talking. If you rely on lipreading you may not always be able to see the face of the person who is speaking. You may need someone to repeat what is said and explain it to you
to explain some sounds if you have some hearing
to attract your attention to sounds you cannot hear, such as traffic, alarms, warning sounds and announcements. These also need to be explained to you
to help explain some words or phrases.

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If you use sign language and you have difficulties understanding written English. You may need someone to explain written information such as:

leaflets
letters
forms
maps and diagrams
bills
receipts
newspapers
food labels
public transport information
adverts
emails
textphone calls
television subtitles.

Try to give examples of when you have needed all these sorts of help. Explain the help you need, not just the help you actually get.

Two-way communication

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At the moment, the law says that two-way communication between two people who are deaf in sign language does not count as 'attention'. But if someone has to stop what they are doing to attract your attention, then it may possibly count. For example, someone may have to walk over to tap you on the shoulder, bang the floor, or flash the light on and off. However, there are some conflicting legal decisions on this issue. If the person signing to you is so slow that communication is difficult and they need to make an extra effort to be understood by you (perhaps they are learning to sign), then this may also count as attention.

Other personal care needs

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If you have other disabilities such as arthritis or sight problems, which mean you need help to carry out your own bodily functions, you should explain what help you need. Even if you have no one to help you, you should still say on the form what difficulties you have with some activities, and what help would make things easier. For example:

It may be very painful for you to carry out some activities.
It may take you a long time to carry out these activities.
You may feel very tired and have to rest.
You may feel dizzy or have balance problems.

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You may also need help with the following because of your deafness:

Getting out of bed in the morning and into bed at night. For example, you may need someone to wake you up in the morning. You may not be able to hear an alarm clock and have tried special alarm clocks but they do not wake you up. So you have to rely on another person to wake you.
Help with your toilet needs. You should explain if you have problems with your balance, or if you have Menière's disease. You may fall when you get up at night for the toilet, or you may find it difficult to flush the toilet, or lock the door. These are personal matters, but it is very important to include information about all your needs on the form.
Help with medical treatment. You may need someone to remind you when to take your medicines or make sure you take the right dosage. If your dosage or medication changes, you should say if you need your doctor or someone else to explain this to you.

How much help do you need?

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If you are profoundly or severely deaf, you may qualify for lower rate Attendance Allowance if you need help with communication, or with other bodily functions several times a day. It is important to describe how your communication needs are spread across the whole day.

It does not matter if you do not get any help with communication because it is not the help you actually get, but the help you 'reasonably require' that counts.

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It is reasonable for a person who is deaf to need help with communication in a range of day-to-day activities, such as:

visiting the doctor or dentist
using public transport
shopping
in a place of worship
hobbies and social activities
leisure activities

Supervision needs

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You should explain if you need someone to keep an eye on you during the day to avoid substantial danger to yourself or others. For example, if you are prone to falls or stumbles, dizzy spells, fits, seizures or blackouts, you should describe these problems.

You may need supervision because you have Menière's disease, balance problems, or dizziness (vertigo) and you are likely to have falls or accidents. You should explain how often you have seizures, dizzy spells, or blackouts. If you are likely to have falls or accidents, explain how often these have happened in the last few months. If you have hurt yourself or needed to see a doctor or go to hospital after a fall or accident, you should give details.

Help needed during the night

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You may qualify for the higher rate if you also have other disabilities and need to be watched over at night. If so, you should give an explanation of this in Section 7 of the form under 'help needed during the night'.

Photocopy your completed form

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You should photocopy your claim form in case you need to challenge the decision made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

How much is Attendance Allowance?

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Attendance Allowance is paid at the following weekly rates, which apply from April 2009.

Lower rate £47.10
Higher rate £70.35

Does Attendance Allowance affect other benefits?

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It is not normally taken into account as income when means-tested benefits are worked out.

An Attendance Allowance award can actually help you qualify for other benefits. You may qualify for an extra allowance in the following benefits and tax credits: Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Working Tax Credit.

If you get Attendance Allowance and you have a carer, they may be able to qualify for Carer's Allowance. You may lose your entitlement to an extra allowance in your own benefits (see above) if your carer claims Carer's Allowance, so it is a good idea to get advice before your carer makes a claim. For more information, contact your local Jobcentre Plus or CAB.

What if I am in hospital or residential care?

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You will lose your Attendance Allowance if you spend more than four weeks in hospital or in residential accommodation if the home fees are partly or fully paid for by public funds (from a government agency, usually your social services department). But if you pay the care home fees yourself you should still be able to get Attendance Allowance. You should also be able to keep your Attendance Allowance if you pay your own fees but at a reduced rate due to the home receiving a grant from the NHS under section 28 of the NHS Act 1977.

If your local authority paid the fees when you first moved to the home – for example, while you were in the process of selling your former home – but you are now responsible for the fees yourself, you will be paid Attendance Allowance. If it is clear that you will be paying back the fees the local authority are paying when you first move in, then your Attendance Allowance should still be paid while the local authority is paying the fees. As the rules about benefits in residential care are complicated, you should get expert advice.

Can I challenge a decision?

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When you first claim Attendance Allowance, the DWP will write to you to tell you if your claim has been allowed or refused. If you disagree with this decision, or the decision about the rate of benefit, you have the right to challenge it. There is a one-month dispute period during which you can challenge a decision:

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You can ask for an explanation of the decision within that one-month period. If you ask for a written explanation, the dispute period will be extended by a further two weeks.
If you disagree with this decision, you can either ask the DWP to look at it again, or you can appeal to a tribunal. You have one month to ask for either of these. You have an extra two weeks if you ask for a written explanation – see above.
If the DWP looks at the decision again, this is called a 'revision'. If you still disagree with the revised decision, you have one further month to appeal against it. This will lead to a tribunal.

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If you appeal, an independent tribunal will make a decision about your claim. The tribunal consists of three people who do not work for the DWP, often a doctor, a lawyer and someone who knows about the needs of disabled people. You don't have to attend the tribunal hearing, but your appeal is less likely to be successful if you don't. You may want to find someone who can help you or come with you. See our factsheet "Challenging disability living allowance (DLA) and attendance allowance (AA) decisions (opens new browser window)".
If your appeal is successful, benefit will be paid from the date when you first claimed it.
If the one-month dispute period has passed, you can ask for a 'supersession' in some circumstances. For example, if the DWP did not know all the facts about your communication or care needs, or if your circumstances have changed.
You may be able to make a late appeal or request a late revision, up to one year after the dispute period has ended, but there must be special reasons for this to be accepted. Get advice if you are thinking about a late appeal or revision.

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Many deaf people who challenge Attendance Allowance decisions are successful. If you decide to appeal, you will probably need professional advice. Your social worker, CAB, welfare rights centre or law centre may be able to help with an appeal. Some local authorities also have benefits advisers who may be able to help you. The RNID Casework Service may be able to help you with your appeal.

Where can I get further information?

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If you have an enquiry about Attendance Allowance you should first contact the BEL.
If you need help filling in a form contact the BEL or your local CAB. Alternatively, contact the Pension Service. They may be able to arrange for a visiting officer to come and see you in your own home.
If you still need further help after contacting these organisations, please contact the RNID Information Line or your RNID office in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
If you or your adviser need advice on challenging an Attendance Allowance decision, contact the RNID Casework Service, or your local CAB or law centre.

Age Concern (opens new browser window)

Welfare rights advice centres

See your phonebook to find your local Welfare rights advice centre.

Further information from RNID

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Our Information Line offers a wide range of information on many aspects of deafness and hearing loss. Contact us for further copies of this factsheet and our full range of information factsheets and leaflets. You can also contact us if you would like information in Braille, on audiotape or large print.

RNID Information Line

19-23 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8SL
Telephone: 0808 808 0123
Textphone: 0808 808 9000
Fax: 020 7296 8199
Email: informationline@rnid.org.uk

RNID Cymru

Tudor House, 16 Cathedral Road, Cardiff CF11 9LJ
Telephone: 029 2033 3034
Textphone: 029 2033 3036
Fax: 029 2033 3035
Email: rnidcymru@rnid.org.uk

RNID Northern Ireland

Wilton House, 5 College Square North, Belfast BT1 6AR
Telephone: 028 9023 9619
Textphone: 028 9031 2033
Videophone: 028 9043 8354
Fax: 028 9031 2032
Email: rnidni@rnid.org.uk

RNID Scotland

Empire House, 131 West Nile Street, Glasgow G1 2RX
Telephone: 0141 341 5330
Textphone: 0141 341 5347
Fax: 0141 354 0176
Email: rnidscotland@rnid.org.uk

RNID Welfare Rights Service

The RNID Welfare Rights Service provides free, confidential, independent information, advice and representation about social security law and its administration. Formerly known as the Legal Casework Service, we now focus specifically on welfare rights issues. We provide information and assistance to help people who are deaf or hard of hearing obtain their correct benefit entitlements. We also advise on claims that need to be made. If we cannot help, we can refer people to organisations that can help them complete forms or advise on housing, debt or immigration issues.

We can assist people further if they have been turned down for benefit and want to appeal.
We can provide representation at appeal tribunals and to commissioners.
We specialise in social security law and its administration by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
We engage in policy analysis and lobbying to improve the current social security system and its administration.
We produce printed and online information about benefits, entitlement and appeals.

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