The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could pay people with certain medical conditions more than £100 per week if they meet certain criteria.
People with any of 56 health conditions, including arthritis and asthma, may be entitled to Attendance Allowance. People must be of State Pension age to claim, the Express reports.
As many as 1.6 million pensioners are claiming the benefit at present, but it’s thought that many more may be eligible but aren’t seeking support.
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The payment rate increased by 10.1% in April and Attendance Allowance is paid at two rates. The lower rate currently stands at £68.10, while the higher is £101.75.
Payments are made weekly and payment rates are based on how much help a person needs.
As well as being of State Pension age, claimants must have lived in the UK for the last two years, as well as be habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands. Claimants must have needed help for at least six months unless the person has less than 12 months to live.
Then special rules can apply and a person qualify much more quickly for the higher rate of payment.
According to the DWP, people also don’t need to have had a diagnosis for their condition to apply. However, people will not be eligible for Attendance Allowance if they already receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Adult Disability Payment (ADP), or the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
56 conditions that can qualify a person for Attendance Allowance from DWP
- 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 syndrome
- Skin disease
- Malignant disease
- Severely mentally impaired
- Double amputee
- Deaf/blind
- Haemodialysis
- Frailty
- Total parenteral autrition
- 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
To claim, people need to fill out an Attendance Allowance form, which can be accessed by either calling the helpline on 0800 731 0122 or downloading it from the Government website here
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