Attendance Allowance Eligibility Checker: Who Qualifies

The questions are a simplified version of the conditions on GOV.UK. The DWP claim form notes ask you to tell DWP as much as you can about how your disability varies.

These are the conditions GOV.UK sets out for Attendance Allowance:

• ✓Yes: You are State Pension age or older.
• ✓Yes: You have a physical disability (including sensory disability, for example blindness), a mental disability (including learning difficulties), or a health condition.
• ✓Yes: It is severe enough for you to need help caring for yourself, or someone to supervise you, for your own or someone else's safety.
• ✓Yes: You have needed that help for at least 6 months, unless you are nearing the end of life.
• ✓Yes: You are in Great Britain when you claim (there are some exceptions, such as members and family members of the armed forces), and have been in Great Britain for at least 2 of the last 3 years (not required if you are a refugee or have humanitarian protection status).
• ✓Yes: You are habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
• ✓Yes: You are not subject to immigration control, unless you are a sponsored immigrant.
• ✓Yes: You do not get DLA, PIP, Adult Disability Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance or Armed Forces Independence Payment.
• ✓Yes: You cannot usually get it if you live in a care home and your local authority pays for your care, but you can still claim if you pay all your care home costs yourself.

There are different eligibility rules if you are nearing the end of life. See our Attendance Allowance guide for the special rules for end of life.

If you live in Scotland, you need to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment instead of Attendance Allowance; see our Pension Age Disability Payment guide. In Northern Ireland, nidirect says you may get Attendance Allowance if you are State Pension age or over and have needed help with personal care because of a physical or mental disability for six months. It also says you can get it even if no one is actually giving you the care you need and even if you live alone. nidirect gives the same two weekly rates, £76.70 and £114.60.

Attendance Allowance looks at whether you need help during the day, during the night, or both:

• Day needs (the day attendance condition): you are so severely disabled physically or mentally that by day you need frequent attention throughout the day in connection with your bodily functions, or continual supervision throughout the day to avoid substantial danger to yourself or others.
• Night needs (the night attendance condition): at night you need prolonged or repeated attention in connection with your bodily functions, or you need someone to be awake for a prolonged period or at frequent intervals to watch over you.
• Lower rate (£76.70/week): you satisfy one of the two conditions but not both.
• Higher rate (£114.60/week): you satisfy both the day and the night attendance condition, or you are terminally ill.

Next steps:

• Read the full guide for how to claim, the AA1 form, and what evidence helps.
• If your needs vary, the DWP claim form notes suggest keeping a record of your needs over a good day and over a bad day.
• If you disagree with a decision, you can ask for mandatory reconsideration. You usually need to ask within one month of the date on your decision letter.
• Across all the benefits the tribunal handles, 60% of appeals cleared at a hearing were overturned in the claimant's favour in April to June 2026 (Ministry of Justice); Attendance Allowance is not published separately.