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Age UK is the new force combining Age Concern England and
Help the Aged in England.
Attendance Allowance is the benefit that many over-65s can claim, if you need help with your personal care because of an illness or disability. It can be worth up to £79.15 a week
If you’re over 65 and need help looking after yourself because you have a disability or illness, you may be able to get Attendance Allowance (AA). It’s not means-tested and receiving it won’t affect any other benefits you claim.
You must be 65 or over and not already claiming Disability Living Allowance. Whether you’re actually getting any outside help doesn’t matter as your claim will be assessed on your needs.
For example, you might require help with washing, or getting dressed, or making yourself a meal, or need someone to be with you to keep you safe.
You can spend the money you get on care or in any other way you choose.
You can use our online benefits calculator to find out if you might be eligible for Attendance Allowance.
You can download a form or start a claim online on the Gov.uk website or get a claim form by calling the Benefit Enquiry Line on 0800 88 22 00 (textphone: 0800 24 33 55).
When completing the form, don’t underestimate your needs. Think about all the things you can't do, or have trouble with, because of your condition.
For examples of what to consider when explaining your needs, see our free guide More money in your pocket: a guide to claiming benefits for people over pension age (PDF 2MB). Order a copy of our leaflet Attendance Allowance for more detailed information about it.
Attendance Allowance (PDF 182KB)
Disability equipment and how to get it (PDF 248 KB).
Find out more about our benefits campaign
Contact your local Age UK, Citizens Advice Bureau or advice agency if you need help with the claim form.
Set your location to see what Age UK offers in your local area.
Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have set their computer up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.
You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
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