Attendance Allowance: What It Is, Who Can Claim, and How It Can Help Pay for Care at Home
Most families who come to Gladys looking for care at home for a parent are paying privately. They have done the maths on the hourly rate, looked at how many hours a week might be realistic, and worked out roughly what that means for the household budget. What very few of them have done is check whether the person they are arranging care for is entitled to government support that could pay for some of it.
Attendance Allowance is one of the most commonly missed forms of support available to older people. It is worth between £3,988 and £5,959 a year. It is tax-free, it is not means-tested, and it can be spent on whatever helps the person live more comfortably at home. That includes care.
This guide explains what Attendance Allowance is, who can claim it, how to apply, and how it fits alongside the kind of support a Gladys carer or helper can provide. If you are arranging care for a parent or older relative, it is worth ten minutes of your time.
What Attendance Allowance is
Attendance Allowance is a benefit paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to people over State Pension age who need help with daily life because of a long-term physical or mental health condition. It is designed to help with the extra costs of living independently when ageing or illness makes things harder.
There are a few features worth understanding up front, because they are the reason so many eligible people never apply.
It is not means-tested. Your income does not matter. Your savings do not matter. Whether you own your home does not matter. If you meet the eligibility criteria, you can claim, regardless of your financial situation.
It is tax-free. The full amount lands in your bank account.
You decide how to spend it. Unlike some other forms of support, there is no requirement to spend Attendance Allowance on care specifically. Many people use it to pay for a cleaner, taxis to appointments, help with the garden, heating bills, or equipment around the house. Others put it directly towards visiting care or live-in care. It is your money to use as you see fit.
You do not need to currently receive care to qualify. This is a common misconception. The test is whether you need help, not whether you are already receiving it.
How much is Attendance Allowance worth?
Attendance Allowance is paid at two rates, depending on how much help you need.
Lower rate: £76.70 a week. Paid if you need help during the day or at night.
Higher rate: £114.60 a week. Paid if you need help during the day and at night, or if you have a terminal illness.
Over a year that is £3,988.40 at the lower rate and £5,959.20 at the higher rate. It is paid every four weeks, directly into the recipient's bank account, and the rates rise every April in line with inflation. These are the 2026/27 figures, confirmed in the DWP's Benefit and Pension Rates 2026 to 2027 publication, which went up by 3.8% on 6 April 2026.
Payment is backdated to the date the DWP receives the form, which is the main reason not to sit on it.
Who can claim Attendance Allowance?
To be eligible, the person claiming must:
Be over State Pension age (rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028)
Have lived in the UK for at least two of the last three years
Have a long-term physical or mental health condition that affects their daily life
Not already be receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
The physical or mental health condition does not need to be severe, and it does not need to be a single named diagnosis. It can be the combined effect of several conditions that come with age: arthritis, breathlessness, reduced mobility, occasional falls, memory problems, depression, dementia, the after-effects of a stroke. The question the DWP is asking is whether daily life has become harder because of health, not whether you have a specific label.
Daily difficulties that count include:
Mobility around the home (stairs, getting in and out of chairs)
Personal care (washing, bathing, dressing, using the toilet)
Eating and drinking
Managing medication
Getting in and out of bed
Risk of falls
Needing supervision because of confusion or memory loss
Communication difficulties
If any of these apply, even some of the time, it is worth checking eligibility.
One note on Scotland: Attendance Allowance has been replaced there by Pension Age Disability Payment, administered by Social Security Scotland. The rates are the same, but the application process differs and claims go through mygov.scot rather than the DWP.
Why so many people miss out
Large numbers of people who would qualify for Attendance Allowance never claim it. There are three reasons for this.
The first is awareness. Most people have never heard of it. It is not advertised, it is not handed out automatically when you turn 66, and most GPs do not mention it. Unless someone tells you about it, you would not know it exists.
The second is the assumption that it is means-tested. Most older people, and most of their families, assume that any benefit must come with an income or savings test. They look at their parent's situation and conclude they are not the right kind of person to claim. They are wrong. Attendance Allowance is not means-tested. There is no income or savings threshold.
The third is the form. The Attendance Allowance application form runs to roughly 35 pages, and the questions are written in a way that invites people to undersell their difficulties. People who are stoic about their health, which is most people over 66, often write "I manage" or "I cope". The DWP is asking what a difficult day looks like, not a good one, and answers based on good days are a common reason otherwise sound applications are refused or awarded at the lower rate.
How to apply
There are two routes.
The first is to apply directly. You can request a form from the DWP, fill it in yourself, and send it off. This is free. The form takes most people several weeks to complete properly, and the detail you put into it matters a great deal. Local Age UK branches will help with the form at no cost, and they are an excellent option if you have one nearby with capacity. Citizens Advice can also help.
The second is to use a specialist service. Kinly is the partner we work with at Gladys. They handle the eligibility check, complete the form on the applicant's behalf, and submit it to the DWP. Kinly report a success rate of 97% across the applications they handle, and for the family the process is a couple of phone calls.
Kinly charge a one-off fee of £456 including VAT, payable only if the application is successful and once the backdated payment has come through from the DWP. There is nothing to pay upfront. If the application is unsuccessful, Kinly handle the appeal at no extra cost. The fee also includes ongoing membership of Kinly Life, which gives a free entitlement check every year, a dedicated phone number for questions, and access to further support, services and discounts.
Both routes are legitimate. If you have the time and someone in the family is confident with forms, the free route works perfectly well, and Age UK's help is very good. The paid route buys convenience and experience, which for a lot of families is worth it when everything else is already stretched.
We have written separately about the partnership and why we recommend Kinly to our families in this post.
How Attendance Allowance fits with care from Gladys
At the higher rate, Attendance Allowance is £114.60 a week. Gladys visiting care starts at £32 an hour, so that is around three and a half additional hours of care every week, paid for entirely by money the household is already entitled to. At the lower rate of £76.70 a week, it is a little over two hours.
For many of the families we work with, this is the difference between a workable amount of support and a level of support that genuinely takes the pressure off. It can mean two extra visits a week. A longer visit each day. The bridge between what the household budget can stretch to and what mum or dad actually needs. Our guide to home care costs sets out what different levels of support tend to work out at.
It can also be used in less obvious ways that still take pressure off:
A taxi account for hospital and GP appointments, so the family member is not always taking time off work to drive
A cleaner once a fortnight, freeing up Gladys carer time for the more important work of companionship and personal care
Equipment that makes daily life safer: a stairlift, a perching stool, bathroom rails
A higher heating budget through the winter, particularly important for older people with circulatory conditions
A regular helper for the garden or shopping, so the older person stays connected to the outside world
Attendance Allowance does not have to be spent on formal care. The point is that it gives the older person, and the family arranging support around them, more options.
Attendance Allowance and other benefits
A successful Attendance Allowance claim can also unlock other entitlements. The most common ones are:
Pension Credit. If the person claiming is on a lower income, Attendance Allowance can increase their Pension Credit entitlement, which itself is a passport to other forms of support.
Council Tax Reduction. Many local authorities offer a reduction in Council Tax for people receiving Attendance Allowance, particularly where the older person lives with a carer or alone.
Carer's Allowance for a family carer. If someone is providing 35 hours a week or more of unpaid care to the Attendance Allowance recipient, they may be entitled to Carer's Allowance themselves.
It is worth thinking about Attendance Allowance as the entry point to a wider package of support, not just a single benefit.
A few questions families often ask
Does my parent's income, savings or home ownership affect the claim?
No. Attendance Allowance is not means-tested. Savings, income and property ownership have no bearing on eligibility or on the amount paid.
Mum is not receiving any care at the moment. Can she claim?
Yes. The test is whether she needs help, not whether she currently receives it. Many people qualify on the basis of difficulties they are managing alone or with informal family support.
How long does the process take?
The DWP quotes 6 to 12 weeks. Kinly report typically seeing decisions within around 35 days, though this varies case by case.
What if the application is refused?
A refused application can be appealed through the DWP's Mandatory Reconsideration process. If Kinly submit the application and it is refused, they handle the appeal at no extra cost.
Is there a deadline to apply?
No. You can apply at any time. Attendance Allowance is paid from the date the DWP receives the application, so the sooner the form is in, the sooner the support starts.
Can I apply on behalf of a parent?
Yes. Most applications are made with significant input from a family member, particularly where the older person has memory difficulties or finds the form intimidating.
What to do next
If you are arranging care for a parent or older relative and you think they might be eligible, the two sensible starting points are a free appointment with your local Age UK or Citizens Advice, or a free eligibility check with Kinly. The Kinly call takes 15 to 20 minutes, there is no obligation, and you will know within that conversation whether it is worth proceeding with a full application.
You can request a callback through the Kinly website or call them directly on 020 3957 9510.
If you are also thinking about care from Gladys, the simplest route is to start with us on 01225 63 77 19 or request a callback. We can talk through how it works, what care might look like, what it would cost, and whether Attendance Allowance is worth pursuing alongside. Many of the families we work with arrange both in parallel.
This is money that, for many older people, is already theirs. They simply have never been told.
