Attendance Allowance: Age UK helps man claim benefit
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The rise will mean state pensioners on the higher rate will soon receive more than £400 a month, but not all pensioners will receive the same amount. Exactly how much depends on someone’s condition and how it affects their everyday lives. Attendance Allowance it is still the most underclaimed benefit with 3.4 million pensioners missing out on this Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit.
Attendance Allowance may be claimed by people of state pension age with a disability or health condition with the payment intended to help them meet higher costs or pay for hired help.
Some 1.8 million people are claiming Attendance Allowance but a staggering 3.4 million more who are eligible but missing out on this vital benefit.
A person can claim the support if they need help with a physical or mental disability as long as they can prove it has affected their lives for at least six months.
All benefit payments will rise in line with inflation from April next year to help people through the cost of living crisis.
How much will Attendance Allowance increase in April 2023?
The lower rate for the benefit is currently £61.85 a week while people on the higher rate get £92.40.
The 10.1 percent payment boost means people on the lower rate will see their payments increase to £68.10 while the upper rate will increase to £101.73.
Pensioners will therefore get between £247.40 and £406.92 every four weeks.
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Richard Lane, director of External Affairs at StepChange Debt Charity, said: “With the news that inflation has now reached 11 percent, this support will soften the impact, particularly as the current cap on typical household energy bills is due to be lifted from the spring.
“The rise in the living wage will also go some way to offset soaring inflation which tends to affect those on the lowest incomes most acutely.
“While the Government’s announcements are welcome, it’s far from clear that the support offered will be enough to prevent rising financial difficulty and hardship this winter.
“Those who receive means-tested benefits are facing the biggest fall in real income and will be exposed to hardship and destitution.”
Some people say they are put off claiming benefits like Attendance Allowance because the claim forms are too complicated. Age UK highlighted common myths usually prevent people from applying for Attendance Allowance:
The claim form is too long – ask a relative, friend or Age UK for help
Benefits stigma – there is no shame in claiming financial support
No one can get it – appeal if previously turned down
Income – it’s not means tested
Applicants don’t need a carer – it can be spent on bills or other things
Eligibility is down to how a person’s condition affects them personally.
The DWP says 56 health conditions qualify for Attendance Allowance:
Arthritis
Spondylosis
Back Pain – Other / Precise Diagnosis not Specified
Disease of The Muscles, Bones or Joints
Trauma to Limbs
Blindness
Deafness
Heart disease
Chest disease
Asthma
Cystic Fibrosis
Cerebrovascular Disease
Peripheral vascular Disease
Epilepsy
Neurological Diseases
Multiple Sclerosis
Parkinson’s Disease
Motor Neurone Disease
Chronic Pain Syndromes
Diabetes Mellitus
Metabolic Disease
Traumatic Paraplegia/Tetraplegia
Major Trauma Other than Traumatic Paraplegia/Tetraplegia
Learning Difficulties
Psychosis
Psychoneurosis
Personality Disorder
Dementia
Behavioural Disorder
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Hyperkinetic syndrome
Renal Disorders
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Bowel and Stomach Disease
Blood Disorders
Haemophilia
Multi System Disorders
Multiple Allergy SyndromeSkin Disease
Malignant Disease
Severely Mentally impaired
Double Amputee
Deaf/Blind
Haemodialysis
Frailty
Total Parenteral Nutrition
AIDS
Infectious diseases: Viral disease – Coronavirus covid-19
Infectious diseases: Viral disease – precise diagnosis not specified
Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – Tuberculosis
Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – precise diagnosis not specified
Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – Malaria
Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – other / precise diagnosis not specified
Infectious diseases – other / precise diagnosis not specified
Cognitive disorder – other / precise diagnosis not specified
Terminally Ill.
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