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BENEFITS FINANCIAL HELP 2 |
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| The
Gateway to Services in the UK |
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Benefit
Rates Index Financial
Help Index
The Main Benefits
Attendance Allowance
Invalid Care Allowance
Severe Disablement Allowance
Attendance
Allowance: this
is a weekly cash benefit for people aged 65 or over who need help with
personal care because of an illness or disability.
It is:
Not dependent on National Insurance contributions
Not affected by any savings or (usually) by any income you or your partner may have.
Usually ignored as income for Income Support or Jobseeker’s
Allowance
If you are living in or going into an
NHS hospital, nursing home or residential home click
here
To get Attendance Allowance (AA) you must normally have needed help with personal care for six months. You can get AA even if no one is actually giving you the care you need. Some people suffer from a terminal illness. There are special rules* for them so that they can get their benefit quickly and easily
Getting AA under the special rules means:
Getting £53.55 each week for help with personal care, whether or not you need help.
Getting paid straight away. There is no need to wait until you have needed help for six months.
Claims are dealt with more quickly
People who:
Are under 65 and need help with personal care, or help with getting around, or both
Should claim Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
* The special rules apply to people
who may not live for longer than six months because of an illness. But
it is, of course , impossible to say exactly how long a person may live.
Invalid
Care Allowance:
If you spend at least
35 hour a week looking after someone who gets Disability Living Allowance
at the middle or highest rate for help with personal care, Attendance
Allowance or Constant Attendance Allowance, you may be able to get Invalid
Care Allowance. But you cannot be earning more than £50 a week.
You can claim this if you are aged 16 to 65
How to Claim:
Get claim pack DS700
(Invalid Care Allowance)
Severe
Disablement Allowance (SDA)
Note ! Severe
Disablement Allowance was abolished for new claims in April 2001.
If you have been incapable of work for 28 weeks or more, but have not paid enough National Insurance contributions to get Incapacity Benefit, you may be able to get Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)
You must be aged between 16 and 65 when you claim. You may be able to carry on getting SDA after the age of 65 if you were entitled immediately before your 65 birthday.
The all work test for incapacity is normally used for SDA. For more information on ‘How incapacity for work is assessed’ read the Incapacity Benefit section. This change will not affect you if you were getting SDA on 12th April 1995 and have continued to do so.
If you first became incapable of work after your 20th birthday, you can get SDA only if you are at least 80% disabled or treated as 80% disabled.
If you are under 19 and still at school or college you can normally only get SDA if you spend less than 20 hours a week in supervised study. Any time spent in education that would be unsuitable for someone of the same age who does not have a disability is ignored
There are age-related additions to SDA. It is also tax-free
For more information: Contact your social security office.
