Attendance Allowance Form (AA1): How to Get It and Fill It In

There are three ways to apply, and two of them involve the paper form:

• ✓Yes: Apply online on GOV.UK. If you apply online, your claim starts on the date you make your claim
• ✓Yes: Print the Attendance Allowance claim form, fill it in and post it. If you print and post the form, your claim starts on the date DWP receives it
• ✓Yes: Phone the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 and ask for a claim form. Your claim starts on the date of your call, if you return the form within 6 weeks

The helpline is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. If you cannot hear or speak on the phone, use Relay UK and dial 18001 then 0800 731 0122, or the British Sign Language video relay service on a computer. Calls to 0800 numbers are free from personal mobiles and landlines.

If you need braille, British Sign Language, a hearing loop, translations, large print, Easy Read or audio, phone the same number. If you live in Wales and want the form in Welsh, you can also call 0800 731 0122.

In England and Wales, GOV.UK's Start now button for Attendance Allowance takes you to the Apply for Attendance Allowance service, which is run by DWP. Its first screen asks what you want to do: make a new claim, tell DWP about a change in circumstances, or renew a claim. If you apply online, your claim starts on the date you make your claim.

When we went through the service on 2 October 2026 without entering any details, after you choose a new claim it asks whether you are applying for yourself or for someone else. It then asks whether you have everything you need, listing the same five items as in the next section, and then asks for your date of birth. We stopped there, so we have not read the questions after that.

The service lists help on the telephone on 0800 731 0122 and on a textphone on 0800 731 0317, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, plus Relay UK and a British Sign Language video relay service. Its help panel also lists numbers for Northern Ireland only, but Northern Ireland has its own online services, described in the last section.

GOV.UK says to have these details to hand when you apply:

• ✓Yes: your National Insurance number
• ✓Yes: your address and contact details
• ✓Yes: details of the disability or health condition that you need extra help for
• ✓Yes: details of your GP surgery or medical centre
• ✓Yes: details of your care home, hospital or hospice if you are currently staying in one

The form also asks you to send in a spare, up-to-date printed prescription list if you have one. If you do, you do not need to give your medicines and dosage, but you still need to name each illness or disability. If you have any reports about your illnesses or disabilities, such as an assessment report or a care plan, send a copy. The form says not to worry if you do not have any reports.

If you are not a British or Irish national, the notes booklet asks you to send your passport, travel documents and any letters you have from the Home Office. The notes for question 8 list an exception for Swiss nationals and nationals of the EEA countries they name who were living in the United Kingdom before 1 January 2021.

Fill the form in with black ink. If you make a mistake, the form says to cross it out with a pen and not to use correction fluid.

The question numbers below are from the DWP form used in England and Wales, in the version dated 11/25, which runs to 32 pages. Check the version date printed on each page of your own copy. Northern Ireland has a different form with different numbers, set out in the last section.

Question 19 asks for your GP's details. The form says the GP only gives details of medical fact and does not decide whether you can get Attendance Allowance. If you are in a hospital, care home or similar place when you are awarded the benefit, DWP cannot pay you until you come out, unless you pay for your stay without help from public funds.

Questions 28 to 46 ask how your condition affects you in the day and at night. The form says it is important to tell DWP about the difficulty you have or the help you need, whether you get the help or not.

• ✓Yes: Usually means most of the time
• ✓Yes: Help means physical help, guidance or encouragement from someone else so you can do the task
• ✓Yes: The day includes the evening. By night, the form means when the household has closed down at the end of the day
• ✓Yes: The notes say disabilities can affect people more on one day than another and ask you to tell DWP as much as you can about how yours varies
• ✓Yes: The notes say help needed during the day and help needed during the night can be different, so there are separate questions for each
• ✓Yes: Questions 38, 41, 43 and 45 ask how many days or nights a week you have the difficulty or need the help or supervision
• ✓Yes: Question 28 asks the date you started to need the help. You can normally only get Attendance Allowance once you have needed help for 6 months, unless you claim under the special rules
• ✓Yes: If you need more room, continue at question 63 or on a separate piece of paper, with your name and National Insurance number at the top of each page

What personal care and supervision mean

The notes say help with personal care means day-to-day help with things like washing (or getting into or out of a bath or shower), dressing, eating, going to or using the toilet, or telling people what you need or making yourself understood. Supervise means that you need someone to watch over you to help you avoid substantial danger to yourself or other people. That could be when you take medicines or have treatment, to keep you away from danger you may not know is there, because you cannot control the way you behave, or to stop you hurting yourself or other people.

The notes say you may not think of yourself as disabled but may still be able to get Attendance Allowance if you have a health condition or illness that means you need that kind of help. They also say you can still get it even if you are not actually getting the help you need.

The special rules are for people who have a progressive disease and are not expected to live longer than another 12 months. To use them, answer yes at question 1. You then do not need to answer questions 21 to 46. Claiming under the special rules means:

• ✓Yes: you get the higher rate of Attendance Allowance
• ✓Yes: you are paid straight away, without waiting until you have needed help for 6 months
• ✓Yes: DWP deals with your claim more quickly

To help DWP deal with the claim as quickly as possible, send an SR1 form with it. Ask your doctor or specialist for one. It is free, you do not have to see the doctor, and you can ask the receptionist, a nurse or a social worker to arrange it. Ask for it in a sealed envelope if you do not want anyone to see it. If you do not have the SR1 by the time you have filled in the claim form, send the claim form straight away and send the SR1 when you can.

You can claim under the special rules for someone else without telling them. Tell DWP about them on the form. DWP will normally write to them about whether they can get Attendance Allowance, and the letters do not mention end of life or the special rules.

You can fill in the form for someone else, and the form says to tell DWP about them, not you, in the "About you" questions. They must still sign it themselves unless:

• ✓Yes: you have already been legally appointed to receive and deal with their benefits, as a benefit appointee, a deputy or a holder of a Power of Attorney for Property and Finance (this does not include a Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare)
• ✓Yes: the person is too ill or disabled to claim for themselves, or lacks the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, and you want to be appointed to deal with their benefits
• ✓Yes: you are completing the form in their absence or without their knowledge

Question 15 asks why you are signing. If you are signing for someone else, you also sign the consent at question 20 and the declaration at question 64. If you hold a Power of Attorney for Property and Finance and do not have an online account, send your full registered documents, either the original or a certified copy. DWP sends them back.

The form ends with a checklist. Check that you have:

• ✓Yes: ticked the relevant box and signed the consent at question 20
• ✓Yes: signed the declaration at question 64
• ✓Yes: included full details of your GP at question 19
• ✓Yes: included full details for anyone else you have seen at question 17
• ✓Yes: included full details for anyone else who helps you at question 18
• ✓Yes: completed the date your care needs started at question 28

List the documents you are sending at question 65, such as a prescription list, a certificate of vision impairment, a medical report, your passport or a care plan. Send copies, because DWP cannot return them. If you do not answer all the questions you need to, it may take DWP longer to deal with your claim.

The declaration says you agree the information you have given is complete and correct and that you will report changes straight away by calling 0800 731 0122. If you give wrong or incomplete information, or do not report changes straight away, you may be prosecuted, have to pay a financial penalty, have your Attendance Allowance reduced or stopped, or be paid too much and have to pay it back.

After you send your claim, you will get a text or letter within 3 weeks that explains when you can expect a decision. Once a decision is made, you will get a letter explaining the outcome, and if you are awarded Attendance Allowance it will tell you when you get your first payment.

You will only need to attend an assessment if it is unclear how your disability or health condition affects you. If you do, you will get a letter saying why and where you must go, and a medical professional will need to examine you. If you disagree with a decision, you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration. See our mandatory reconsideration guide.

Scotland

If you live in Scotland you need to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, run by Social Security Scotland, instead of Attendance Allowance. You can apply online through myaccount, or by phone and paper: call Social Security Scotland free on 0800 182 2222, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. The adviser takes some details to start part 1 of your application, then Social Security Scotland sends a part 2 paper form and a prepaid return envelope. You complete and return the form within 8 weeks, or ask for more time. If you are applying for someone who is terminally ill, you can complete the whole application over the phone.

If you send an Attendance Allowance application to Social Security Scotland, they use it as an application for Pension Age Disability Payment. If you applied to DWP for Attendance Allowance but should have applied for Pension Age Disability Payment, DWP sends your application to Social Security Scotland, and if it succeeds you are paid from the date you applied for Attendance Allowance. You do not need to complete a separate application in either case.

If you move from England or Wales to Scotland, you must tell DWP you have moved and make a new claim for Pension Age Disability Payment. Your Attendance Allowance stops 13 weeks after you move. If you move from Scotland to England or Wales, you must report your move to Social Security Scotland and apply for Attendance Allowance. Questions 13 and 14 on the AA1 form ask about a move from Scotland and about Pension Age Disability Payment.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland claims are handled by the Disability and Carers Service, which administers Attendance Allowance there. You can email dcs.forms@dfcni.gov.uk, or call 0800 587 0912, and ask for a claim pack. nidirect also lets you download an AA 1 claim form and guidance notes, to fill in on your device before printing or to print first, or you can collect a form from your local Jobs and Benefits office. The date of your email or phone request is treated as your date of claim, as long as you send the form back within six weeks. Our Attendance Allowance guide has the rest of the Northern Ireland position.

The Northern Ireland form is a different form

The form nidirect publishes is labelled AA1 (ALT), version 01/26, and nidirect dates it 9 June 2026. It is not the DWP form, and its question numbers are different. Page 1 has boxes for the date the Disability and Carers Service received your request for the form and the date to send it back by. The form says the claim is treated as made on the first date if you return it by the second, and that if it is going to be late you tell them why at question 61. It asks whether you normally live in Northern Ireland, and for this form abroad means out of Northern Ireland.

To claim under the special rules on this form, tick the box at question 12. You then do not need to answer questions 19 to 44, and you send an SR1 with the form and go to question 45. When you have finished, post the form to the Disability and Carers Service or hand it in at your local Jobs and Benefits office. The notes say that if you do not get a letter within two weeks of sending your form, you should phone 0800 587 0912.

Applying online in Northern Ireland

nidirect runs its own online service, Claim Attendance Allowance, for people who are State Pension age or over and need help with personal care because of a physical or mental disability. You can also use it if you are helping someone fill in the application, or if you are an Enduring Power of Attorney or an Appointee. You need the same details as in England and Wales, plus dates of any time you have spent living abroad.

If someone is nearing the end of life there is a separate service, Claim Attendance Allowance under special rules. You ask a medical professional for form SR1, and they either fill it in and give it to you or send it directly to the Department for Communities. If someone else is making the claim for you, they do not need your permission.