Attendance Allowance and holidays abroad

brodev

A friend has recently been awarded Attendance Allowance. Her son and grandchildren live in Spain. She likes to spend some time with them and goes out at various times for varying lengths of time. She has been told that if she goes for more than 13 weeks in any 12 month period then her AA may be stopped. She doesn't know if it would be a temporary stop or if she would have to reapply. I told her I would ask on here as the folks on here know everything So, does any one know what the rules regarding this are?

pmlindyloo

brodev wrote: »

A friend has recently been awarded Attendance Allowance. Her son and grandchildren live in Spain. She likes to spend some time with them and goes out at various times for varying lengths of time. She has been told that if she goes for more than 13 weeks in any 12 month period then her AA may be stopped. She doesn't know if it would be a temporary stop or if she would have to reapply. I told her I would ask on here as the folks on here know everything So, does any one know what the rules regarding this are?

Yes, after 13 weeks her AA would stop and she may have difficulty reapplying because she may not meet the residency rules.

See here:

http://www.ageuk.org.uk/documents/en-gb/factsheets/fs34_attendance_allowance_fcs.pdf?dtrk=true

Scroll down to 6:2

brodev

She is not intending to go for more than 13 weeks at any one time but she is concerned that the accumulated time may take her over the 13 weeks in any 12 months time. This is complicated further by there being no need to inform anyone if she goes for less than 28 days. Does this mean that visits of less than 28 days don't count towards the total of 13 weeks?

pmlindyloo

The way I read it is that you can go abroad on holiday for up to 4 weeks without notifying them and up to 13 weeks when notifying them.

There is nothing that I have read that states that the holidays taken can only add up to 13 weeks in one year.

You could phone AGEUK to check or AA themselves.

sheramber

Does she meet this requirement?

You normally have to be habitually resident in the UK when you make your
claim and have to have been in the UK for at least 104 weeks out of the last
156 weeks

That would imply that all absences are accumulated.

pmlindyloo

sheramber wrote: »

Does she meet this requirement?

You normally have to be habitually resident in the UK when you make your
claim and have to have been in the UK for at least 104 weeks out of the last
156 weeks

That would imply that all absences are accumulated.

But I think that is for when you apply.

May be wrong - best to get it from AA themselves

brodev

It was AA that told her that she could only go for a total of 13 weeks in any rolling 12 month period. She doesn't want to phone them back in case it makes them pay special attention to her

dippy3103

Well just phone and ask in general - if you ring & say she's not there they won't be able to discuss her actual claim with you but they will be able to clarify the rules as they apply to everybody.

pebbles88

As has been said, you need to check with Dwp themselves. Better to do that then go over the accumulated times etc & the not be eligible to claim the benefit. Another thing to be aware of is ensuring she declared that she is able to travel abroad to spend time with family in her aa application as if she hasn't & then declared the trips it may affect her award anyway.

missbiggles1

I'm surprised at some of the answers as you can apply for and receive AA even when you live abroad in another EU country. Is just visiting different?

emmsie123

According to this it's 13 weeks.
https://www.gov.uk/claim-benefits-abroad/illness-injury-and-disability-benefits