Attendance allowance - please help dispel some myths?

buel10

Hello all, please can you help?

My Dad has several health issues and has had for years. He is not registered as disabled though.

I have sent the link to Martin's useful link on how to claim for attendance allowance to my parents. My Mum seems dead set against it. When I asked why, she explained that:
- She believes that "you have to be virtually a zombie to get it"
- If she, as his helper/carer gets "more money than the pension credit limit then they ask for permission to look at your bank statements and find out why" and that she could lose he current free council tax, winter fuel payments, free glasses etc
- "They check to see how bad he is and come for an interview and are intrusive" and "they watch you afterwards to see what you you do outside"
- "Your Dad needs to be registered as disabled"

Please can I have some informed opinions on these issues that she has?

Newly_retired

In my experience of knowing people who get AA and also of helping people with their claims, AA is possibly one of the easier benefits to get, provided the form is filled in appropriately.* Rather than losing money, a claimant on AA may be entitled to a higher rate of Pension Credit, or other benefits. 

*My mum was not registered as disabled, but she qualified for AA. She was someone who made light of her difficulties and found ways round them. It took a bit of careful wording to describe her difficulties in a way that was not dispiriting to someone with her positive attitude.
Nobody checked up on her to “ see how bad she was” or checked to see how she used the money.

elsien

You don’t have to be registered disabled because there isn’t any sort of official disabled register anyway. 

You don’t have to be practically a zombie. My grandmother got attendance allowance when she was still getting out and about, although with a bit of help, and she was sharper than most people 20 years younger than her mentally. She just had some physical health issues that meant she needed a bit of support. 

Although I’m not up to speed on the benefits side of things, according to this link, it could actually give them more money.
https://www.gov.uk/attendance-allowance/what-youll-get#:~:text=Attendance%20Allowance%20rates&text=You%20could%20get%20extra%20Pension,office%20dealing%20with%20your%20benefit.
however, attendance allowance is not means tested and it’s for your dad, not for your mum.

Grandparent was incredibly reluctant to apply because she thought “other people needed it more than her.” When she got it, she never regretted applying for it. I don’t think she had an interview with anyone. I think the form and the other information sent was enough.

Your mother has been watching too many programs about benefit fraud and investigations of people defrauding this system. It’s pretty normal for older people to need additional help, and she is not going to have investigators camped on her doorstep.

Rubyroobs

Easiest benefit ever to claim. I'm regularly astounded at some of the claimants that are awarded higher rate. I honestly think the government should start actually doing assessments for this benefit, not that this will ever happen of course. 

p00hsticks

I've heard different from most of the posters above.

My elderly mother is extremely visually impaired, very hard of hearing, has a heart condition that makes her extremely breathless and can only walk with difficulty using a frame, making her virtually housebound. My late father was her (unacknowledged) carer, doing all the washing , cooking, cleaning etc himself as well as driving her if she need to go anywhere despite becoming increasingly frail himself.

At the suggestion of a neighbour ,he got in touch with someone at the local surgery who arranged for someone to come and help them fill in an application for attendance allowance, a process which took several hours apparently - only to have DWP reject the application because (apparently) my mother didn't need any assistance during the night. 

elsien

Did they not appeal? 

p00hsticks

elsien said:

Did they not appeal? 

No, they just couldn't face it as it was 'such a palaver' the first time. Dad has since died and mum is having to pay for carers to come in twice a day, so I suspect and hope she would now qualify, but she's very stubborn and it's going to be a hard job to persuade her to go through it all again.

buel10

p00hsticks said:

elsien said:

Did they not appeal? 

No, they just couldn't face it as it was 'such a palaver' the first time. Dad has since died and mum is having to pay for carers to come in twice a day, so I suspect and hope she would now qualify, but she's very stubborn and it's going to be a hard job to persuade her to go through it all again.

God, the stubbornness is the thing that is driving me around the bend. I really wish you luck but understand what you are up against.
I would question who helped them with the form though?

Murphybear

Rubyroobs said:

Easiest benefit ever to claim. I'm regularly astounded at some of the claimants that are awarded higher rate. I honestly think the government should start actually doing assessments for this benefit, not that this will ever happen of course. 

It may be the easiest benefit to claim but statistics would suggest otherwise.  Currently 58% of applications are rejected.  

Many applications are turned down because people don't mention, or aren't clear about, how their illness or disability affects their lives. Sometimes people are put off applying altogether because of the application process. 

Murphybear

p00hsticks said:

I've heard different from most of the posters above.

My elderly mother is extremely visually impaired, very hard of hearing, has a heart condition that makes her extremely breathless and can only walk with difficulty using a frame, making her virtually housebound. My late father was her (unacknowledged) carer, doing all the washing , cooking, cleaning etc himself as well as driving her if she need to go anywhere despite becoming increasingly frail himself.

At the suggestion of a neighbour ,he got in touch with someone at the local surgery who arranged for someone to come and help them fill in an application for attendance allowance, a process which took several hours apparently - only to have DWP reject the application because (apparently) my mother didn't need any assistance during the night. 

That is incorrect.  You can get the lower rate of AA if you need assistance just during the day.  If you need assistance during both day and night you will get the higher rate. 

The best people to help with the AA application are Citizens Advice or Age U.K.  Both of these organisations will have people who understand the system.  I appreciate the form is not the easiest but I have helped many people apply successfully. 

barbedhook

You can now claim online if you go on .gov website they only let so many claim its very easy it’s just tick boxes took me less than 10 minutes. It’s a new way of claiming they only let so many use it the best time to do it on a Monday morning they don’t ask you to download any medical information it’s so simple