Attendance Allowance

bones65

Can someone please help me.
last night i was told by a friend who lives with his elderly parents claims attendance allowance of about £50 a week. He works full time as an engineer so his no where near the minimum wage.
I also live with my parents my dad who has prostate cancer is 76 and my mother who is 74 has been in hospital since july 4th with septis and has undergone major heart surgery.
Would i be entitled to anything i also work full time on a decent wage also
I have to drive my dad to the hospital each night to see my mum as he does'nt like driving in the dark and have to assist in household chores and the weekly shop for him.
Am i entitled to anything

Many thanks

Andy xx

Poppie68

Attendance allowance is for the person who requires the care, you can't claim this. Do you mean carers allowance? If you friend earns more than £100 a week he would'nt be recieving this either.

Mojisola

It would be worth asking AgeUk to do a benefit assessment for your parents.

Isn't there anyone else who could take your father to the hospital at least a couple of times a week?

Dunroamin

If one (or both) of your parents were eligible to claim AA then obviously they could pay your petrol money for giving them lifts, although you need to bear in mind that AA is given for care needs rather than mobility problems.

Couldn't your father go to visit your mother in the afternoon and leave the evening visits until you're going over to see her yourself?

Pollycat

I think it just goes to show that there's a lot of mis-information out there.

As has already been said, this guy who works as an engineer can't be claiming AA for his parents.

It may be Carer's Allowance

From Directgov website:

Carer’s Allowance is £59.75 a week to help you look after someone with substantial caring needs.
You don’t have to be related to, or live with, the person you care for.
You need to be aged 16 or over and spend at least 35 hours a week caring for them.

Re Poppies68's post, this is what Directgov says:

Exceptions


You may not get Carer’s Allowance if:

• you’re in full-time education, and studying for 21 hours a week or more (this includes supervised study and things like coursework and experiments, not just time spent with a tutor)
• you earn more than £100 a week (after tax)

I second either AgeUK or CAB doing a benefit check for both your parents, or you could have a look yourself.
There's a benefit calculator on the Turn2us website.

seven-day-weekend

It is the person with care needs who claims Attendance Allowance.

The person who cares for them may then be entitled to Carers' Allowance, but only if they earn less than £100 a week and spend 35 hours a week or more on their caring duties.

Maybe the OP's friend means that his parents give them all their AA for looking after them, but it is still them that will be the claimants, not him.