Attendance Allowance 2026/27: Rates, Who Qualifies and How to Claim

Attendance Allowance is a weekly payment for people who have reached State Pension age and need help with personal care or supervision because of a physical or mental health condition. It is paid at two flat rates, is not means-tested, is not taxable, and is not affected by your savings, pension income or whether anyone actually helps you at the moment. What matters is the help you reasonably need — which is exactly why the claim form, not the medical diagnosis, decides most claims.

• Two rates only: a lower rate for day or night needs, a higher rate for day and night needs (or if you are terminally ill).
• Not means-tested and tax-free — it never appears on a Self Assessment return and does not use up your Personal Allowance.
• You normally need to have had the care needs for six months before payment starts.
• In Scotland, new claims go to Pension Age Disability Payment instead, with broadly matching rates.
• It can unlock extra Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax help worth more than the allowance itself.

Who qualifies for Attendance Allowance

There is no list of qualifying illnesses. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) looks at the practical effect of your condition on daily living, so two people with the same diagnosis can get different outcomes.

The core test

You can claim if all of the following apply:

• You have reached State Pension age.
• You have a physical disability, a mental health condition, a learning disability, a long-term illness, or sensory impairment (including being deaf or blind).
• You need help with personal care — washing, dressing, getting in and out of bed, using the toilet, eating, taking medication, managing a stoma or dialysis — or you need someone to keep an eye on you to avoid danger to yourself or others.
• You meet the residence and presence conditions (broadly, habitually resident in Great Britain and present for a set part of the last three years, and not subject to immigration control).

"Needing help" includes needing someone to prompt or encourage you. If you can technically wash yourself but will not do it without someone reminding and supervising you, that counts. So does needing help that nobody currently gives you — you do not have to have a carer to qualify.

The six-month qualifying period

You must normally have needed that help for at least six months before payment can start. You can still claim before the six months is up: the DWP can award the benefit from the date the qualifying period ends rather than refusing outright.

There is an exception under the special rules for end of life. If you are not expected to live more than a set period and a clinician completes the supporting form (SR1), the six-month wait is waived and the higher rate is awarded automatically.

Scotland: Pension Age Disability Payment

Attendance Allowance has been replaced in Scotland by Pension Age Disability Payment, administered by Social Security Scotland. New claims from Scottish residents are made to Social Security Scotland rather than the DWP, the qualifying tests and the two rates mirror Attendance Allowance, and existing Attendance Allowance awards are being transferred across without a new application. Northern Ireland keeps Attendance Allowance, claimed through nidirect.

When you cannot claim

• You already get Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Adult Disability Payment or Disability Living Allowance — you cannot hold two of these at once. If you already have PIP when you reach State Pension age, it normally continues and you do not switch. Our guide to PIP and how it is assessed explains which benefit applies at which age.
• You live in a care home and your care is funded by the local authority — payments stop after 28 days. If you fund the home entirely yourself, Attendance Allowance continues.
• You are in hospital — payments generally stop after 28 days.

Attendance Allowance rates 2026/27

There are two rates. Payments are usually made every four weeks, direct into your bank account.

The 2026/27 figures above are based on the standard September CPI uprating applied to disability benefits and should be confirmed against the published DWP rates before you rely on them. On those figures the higher rate is worth roughly £5,959 a year (£114.60 × 52) and the lower rate roughly £3,988 (£76.70 × 52), paid in four-weekly instalments of about £458.40 and £306.80.

Night-time needs have their own threshold: broadly, you need help twice or more during the night, or help lasting a prolonged period, or someone watching over you at frequent intervals. Getting up alone to use the toilet does not count — someone has to be needed.

Filling in the Attendance Allowance form

The claim form (AA1) runs to around 30 pages and is the single biggest determinant of the outcome. Decisions are made on paper — there is no face-to-face assessment in most cases — so anything you do not write down does not exist.

Lock in your claim date first

Ask the DWP for a printed form or claim through the service on GOV.UK. If you request a paper form, it arrives stamped with the date of your request, and if you return it within the stated deadline your award runs from that date rather than the date it is received. That can be several weeks of extra money. Do not download a blank copy and post it without checking whether the dated version applies.

Write for a stranger who cannot see you

The boxes are large because the DWP wants detail. For each activity, cover four things:

• What goes wrong — "I cannot reach my feet, so I cannot wash below the knee or cut my toenails."
• How often — per day, per week, and how many days out of seven are bad days.
• How long it takes, and how long it would take someone without your condition.
• What happens if nobody helps — falls, missed medication, skipped meals, pressure sores, burns, not getting to the toilet in time.

Describe your worst days as well as your average ones, and say how frequently they occur. A claim written around "I manage most of the time" will be refused even where the underlying needs are substantial.

Do not skip the mental health and cognition sections

Memory problems, confusion, anxiety, depression, dementia and sight loss all generate supervision needs. Leaving a tin opener on the hob, forgetting whether tablets were taken, or being unable to answer the door safely are exactly the kinds of risk the supervision test is designed to capture.

Evidence and extra sheets

Attach continuation sheets where the boxes are too small, and label each one with the question number. A short care diary covering a fortnight, a recent hospital discharge letter, a medication list, an occupational therapy assessment or a falls-clinic letter all help. Keep a photocopy or scan of everything you send — if the claim is refused you will need it for the mandatory reconsideration.

Pitfalls that sink claims

• Underselling the need. British stoicism costs money here. "I cope" is read as "no needs".
• Answering about aids instead of help. If you use a perching stool or a grab rail, still explain what remains difficult and what help you need on top.
• Blank boxes. An unanswered question is treated as a "no", not as "not applicable".
• Ignoring night needs. Many claimants qualify only for the lower rate because they never quantified how often they need help between bedtime and morning.
• Forgetting the six-month rule. Claiming the week after a stroke usually means a delayed start date rather than a straight refusal — but claim anyway, do not wait and lose the record of when needs began.
• Not challenging a refusal. You have one month from the decision to ask for a mandatory reconsideration, then the option of an independent tribunal. Many awards are made at this stage.
• Not reporting a change. If your needs increase, ask for a supersession — a lower-rate award can move to the higher rate. Equally, failing to report a long hospital or care-home stay creates an overpayment you must repay.

What Attendance Allowance unlocks

The headline rate is often the smaller part of the gain, because an award acts as a gateway to means-tested top-ups:

• Pension Credit severe disability addition — payable if you get Attendance Allowance, live alone (or are treated as living alone) and nobody claims Carer's Allowance for looking after you. This addition is worth more per week than the lower rate of Attendance Allowance itself.
• Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction — extra disability premiums can increase the award or bring you into entitlement for the first time.
• Carer's Allowance for someone who cares for you at least 35 hours a week — but check the interaction first, because a Carer's Allowance claim can remove your severe disability addition and leave the household worse off.
• Council Tax — a disability band reduction, or the severe mental impairment discount, are separate from Attendance Allowance but often come to light at the same time.
• Blue Badge applications, local authority care support, and various local discounts.

Attendance Allowance itself is ignored as income for Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction, and it is not affected by the benefit cap. Run the numbers for the whole household with the benefits and entitlements checker before you make or change any claim.

Is Attendance Allowance taxable?

No. Attendance Allowance (and Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland) is completely tax-free. It does not go on a tax return, does not count towards your Personal Allowance of £12,570, and is ignored when working out adjusted net income. Contrast that with the State Pension, which is taxable in full even though tax is never deducted from it at source.

Worked example. Margaret is 74, lives in England, and receives the full new State Pension of £241.30 a week plus a £4,000 workplace pension. She is awarded the higher rate of Attendance Allowance.

1. State Pension: £241.30 × 52 = £12,547.60.
2. Plus workplace pension £4,000 = £16,547.60 of taxable income.
3. Less the Personal Allowance of £12,570 = £3,977.60 taxable at 20%.
4. Income Tax due: £3,977.60 × 20% = £795.52, collected through her pension's tax code.
5. Attendance Allowance of roughly £5,959 a year adds £0 to that bill.

If Margaret lived in Scotland, the same £3,977.60 would be taxed at the Scottish starter rate of 19% on the first £3,967 and 20% on the remaining £10.60 — £753.73 + £2.12 = £755.85, about £40 less. The Attendance Allowance is still ignored. You can check your own position with the Income Tax calculator.

What to do next

Start with the money, not the form: use the benefits and entitlements checker to see whether an Attendance Allowance award would also open up Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax help, and whether a Carer's Allowance claim would help or hinder the household. Then request the dated AA1 through GOV.UK, block out an afternoon, and answer every box with frequency, duration and consequences. If you are under State Pension age, read the PIP guide instead — that is the benefit that applies to you.