Attendance Allowance help

AnotherMakes3

I am soon to become a help for my gran as she is deaf, has arthritis and vascular dementia so struggles with day to day things like eating, dressing and cleaning. She suffers from paranoia and will not have a home help in so I offered to go to her unless someone is there too.

I was looking up to see whether she can claim anything toward paying possibly for a private nurse to go to her too and came across attendance allowance but it says she'd get nothing for the first 6 months?? She's been deaf for years and has had the dementia diagnosis for 1 year now so would that not count or do they take it from the claim date?

Her house has mice and she is often walking about half dressed in dirty clothes so needs the help asap. She said she'd give me petrol money to go to her as we are really skint at the moment with job hour cuts and 3 kids.

I would obviously do my best to get to her as I do not want my gran to suffer.

Does anyone know if there is anything else she could claim?

Mojisola

She should claim AA. As the problem has been going on for longer than six months, she should be able to get it straightaway. My parents found the Pensions Service very helpful. They sent an advisor to sort out all their benefits and fill in the forms. They helped them claim stuff they didn't know they were entitled to.

You should also look into claiming Carer's Allowance to see if you would be able to claim it.

Get the council in to sort out the mice!

katsclaws

I found Age Concern (now Age UK) very helpful when filling out the forms. Using the correct wording is quite important. There are two rates of attendance allowance.

Indie_Kid

AA can't be backdated. So, if you ask for the forms now and have had the problems for a year, you'd only get it from today's date.

AnotherMakes3

Thanks. I will definitely look into this for her then. I dont think Id qualify for carers allowance as I wouldnt be providing more than 35 hours per week care for her. Her house is owned so would she still be able to get the council out to help with the mice issue?

Lindagreenacre

Hi, I do not think that you can get attendance allowance straight away unless the person is diagnosed as being terminally ill.
As one other says, the pension service will send someone out if you need that and they will be able to advise of any benefits that your gran is entitled to.
Believe me though, it is a minefield.
My mother is 87 and my sister is 62, with Downs syndrome. They have always lived together. Mum fractured her hip four years ago and when she came back home needed some help from a carer. We applied for attendance allowance, which she got after several months wait.
She then fractured her other hip, nearly a year ago. The hospital said that she would be non-loadbearing for 6 wks. and then go to intermediate care for a few weeks. All of a sudden, they said she had to go home, no intermediate care or anything. I protested that my sister could not cope with her, but no, the doctor insisted that she was fine. Her notes said she lived with her husband who was fit and well and he was going to look after her. Dad had been dead 19 yrs. and she did not live where she said she did and never had. She sounded so plausible, but she was terribly confused. I was hounded to get her out and so found her a lovely residential home. As she was in hospital, her attendance allowance (at the lower rate) had been stopped. Now, I wanted it paying at the higher rate. She had to wait for the lower rate to be reinstated, while they investigated if she was self-funding (she is) and then wait 6 mths. for payment at the higher rate. Meanwhile she was paying £500 per week for her care.
What will happen when her money runs out, God alone knows.

Mojisola

My mother received AA as soon as she applied for it because she had had the problems for longer than six months.

Ziggazee

There is a 6 month qualifying period for Attendance Allowance. That 6 month period runs from the date the customer's care needs first started. For example, if you applied for the benefit on the 1st January and advised that the customer's needs began on that date then the benefit would only be awarded from the 1st July. Similarly, if you applied for the benefit on the 1st January and advised that the needs started on the 1st July last year then the benefit would be awarded from the 1st January.
This 6 month qualifying period also applies when asking for an increase of the AA from low rate to high rate, i.e. the customer must have had the increased care needs for 6 months before the increase can be awarded.
Hope this helps