Is he entitled to attendance allowance

smartiepants

AGB863 wrote:

They will want o know about savings and any retiremnet pensions that your father has.

He has about £30k savings plus his house

Ted_Hutchinson

our right to 100% NHS funded care under the law and "Coughlan"Benefitsnow Assess yourself for AA

Capital and savings is relevant for means tested benefits. See
Social security benefit rates (GL23)

Councel & Care - advice and help for older people

Age Concern Information Categories and Factsheets

Help the Aged Info Point - see our top advice leaflets:

AGB863

smartiepants wrote:

My Dad does not know of his condition and wouldnt remember anyway because of the altzhiemers, reading the dwp website, doesn't he have to be diagnosed as only having less than 6 months left to live to be entitled to fasttrack?

The definition of being terminally ill and claiming AA is
"you are regarded as terminally ill if you are suffering from a progressive disease and can be reasonably be expected to die within 6 months as a result of that disease. This does not mean that it must be more likely than not that you will die within this period. It simply means that death within the 6 months would not be enexpected"

Effectilvely if your father does not pass away it is not a problem, I have claimed AA for people in the same situation who have lived for 18+ months.

As I said earlier you will need a DS1500 form to claim under the special rules.

smartiepants

Thanks Ted_Hutchinson for this, I know it is terrible that Dad is having to self fund when he has gone without the extras in life to save for retirement, but at the moment it is too distressing for my family to even contemplate taking legal action to get his nursing home funded by the NHS, I totally agree that it should be though, without the nessecity of having to fight for every penny.

smartiepants

AGB863 wrote:

As I said earlier you will need a DS1500 form to claim under the special rules.

I will get onto that straight away then, do you know if it is possible to make an appointment with someone from social services to help me make a claim for any entitlements and if so who should I contact?
Thanks for all your help, it really is appreciated. xxxx

smartiepants

[QUOTE=Ted_Hutchinson_Assess_yourself[/b] for AA

][/QUOTE]

Yes according to this he is eligible for the higher rate. Thanks for that. xxxx

smartiepants

smartiepants wrote:

I will get onto that straight away then, do you know if it is possible to make an appointment with someone from social services to help me make a claim for any entitlements and if so who should I contact?
Thanks for all your help, it really is appreciated. xxxx

Re: Form DS1500 Have asked his doctors receptionist for this, as I live a fair distace away, she even offered to post this form to me once the doctor has completed it, Thanks again. xxxx

smartiepants

I have also reqested the attendance allowance pack from DWP, they say that the form is quite easy to complete under the special rules.

They also stated that I should have claimed it when he was first diagnosed with a terminal illness, sooooooooooo thats good isn't it he has lost about 5 or 6 months worth of attendance allowance, about £1300 - £1500 to my reckoning. I just don't understand why no-one (ie. social workers, care workers etc,) has ever bothered to tell us about this benefit before? Wouldn't you think that every elderly person diagnosed with a terminal illness should be given this information as standard!

margaretclare

he will be awarded the high rate of Attendance Allowance - ( off the top of my head i think is £60-60).

Yes, it's £60.60. It's likely to be paid along with his retirement pension, so if he gets that 4-weekly he'll get AA 4-weekly, if weekly then AA will be weekly (into his bank account).

They will want to know about savings and any retirement pensions that your father has.

Only for means-tested benefits like pension credit. Attendance allowance is NOT means-tested i.e. the £60.60 a week comes in spite of whatever other money your Dad receives.

Aunty Margaret

smartiepants

He receives his retirement pension monthly.

Does anyone know if it is ever possible to backdate a claim for attendance allowance in these circumstances, surely someone should have given us some advice on this matter, or is it really just up to the individual to find out for themselves, any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. xxxx