Attendance Allowance check → Attendance Allowance: common mistakes to avoid

Attendance Allowance: common mistakes to avoid

Avoidable slips that lead to a refusal or the lower rate — from blank night questions to missed deadlines — and how to check for them.

Written and checked by the Attendance Allowance Check team at Virix Ltd. Last reviewed 25 September 2026 against gov.uk.

An Attendance Allowance claim can go wrong in two ways. It can be refused, or it can be awarded at the lower rate when the person’s needs fit the higher one. Some of the reasons are about the person’s health and nothing can change them. Others are small, avoidable slips — in how the form is filled in, what goes with it, how it is sent, and what happens after the decision. This page goes through those slips, stage by stage, so you can check for them before they cost anything.

We have not put figures on how often each one happens, because there are no reliable public numbers to quote. The list is drawn from what the form, its notes and the DWP’s own guidance ask for.

While filling in the form

1. Leaving the night questions blank

Questions 42 to 45 are short, and they are easy to skip if you live alone or if getting up at night has become normal. But the night is what decides between the two rates: the higher rate, currently £114.60 a week, is for help needed by day and by night; the lower rate, £76.70, is for day or night. Someone who needs both but only describes the day can end up with the lower rate. Night-time help counts whether or not anyone gives it. Our guide to the night-time questions goes through them in detail.

2. No numbers: how often, how long, how many days

Nearly every care question has boxes for how often each day, and the night section asks how many minutes each time. Question 38 asks how many days a week you have difficulty, and questions 41, 43 and 45 ask the same for supervision and nights. A tick with no number leaves the decision maker to guess, and the DWP’s guidance says the amount of help is judged from its frequency and pattern. Fill in every number you can, even as an estimate.

3. Describing a good day, or the help you get rather than the help you need

“Usually”, on this form, means most of the time. If you have bad days, say how many a week and what they are like. And describe what you need, not only what someone currently does for you. The page on what not to write has examples of phrases that undersell this.

4. Building the claim on walking

Attendance Allowance does not cover mobility needs. A form that is mostly about how far someone can walk outdoors, or getting to the shops, may describe very real difficulties that this benefit simply does not pay for. Focus on personal care — washing, dressing, the toilet, eating, medicines — and on any need for someone to keep an eye on you. See what counts as needing help.

5. Not saying who helps

Question 18 asks for details of anyone who helps you — a family member, a neighbour, a paid carer — what they do and how often. Leaving it empty can make it look as if nobody is involved. If you have no help, say that too, and say what happens as a result.

6. Leaving out the care start date

Attendance Allowance is normally paid only after help has been needed for six months, so question 28 asks when your needs began. It is one of the items on the form’s own checklist. A rough date is fine, tied to something you remember: a fall, an operation, a diagnosis.

7. Skipping the special rules when they apply

If someone is not expected to live more than another 12 months, question 01 lets the claim go under the special rules: dealt with more quickly and paid at the higher rate without the six-month wait. The notes ask you to send an SR1 form from a doctor or specialist, but not to hold the claim back waiting for it. Our guide to the whole form explains how.

Supporting information

8. No evidence, or the wrong kind

You do not need a doctor’s letter to claim. But the form asks whether you hold any reports — a care plan, an occupational therapy assessment, a hospital letter — and suggests sending an up-to-date printed prescription list. A diary of a day and a night, which the notes suggest keeping, can go in too. General leaflets about a condition add little; something about you adds more.

9. Sending originals

The form asks for copies, because the DWP cannot send documents back. List what you are sending at question 65.

10. Incomplete GP and professional details

Questions 17 and 19 ask for the professionals you have seen in the last 12 months and your GP’s full details. Both are on the form’s checklist. If the DWP needs to check something, this is how they do it.

11. Not ticking the consent at question 20

Question 20 asks whether you agree to the DWP contacting your GP and the others you have named. You do not have to agree, but the form explains that if you do not, they may not be able to check you can get the payments. It needs its own tick, signature and date.

12. No statement from someone who knows you

Questions 55 to 62 are optional, but they are a chance for someone who sees your day-to-day life to confirm it. If a relative is signing the form on your behalf, the form asks that someone else writes this part.

Signing and sending

13. Not signing the declaration

The declaration at question 64 needs a signature and date. The form says plainly that no benefit can be paid until it is signed and returned. It is separate from the signature at question 20 — both are needed.

14. Taking longer than six weeks

If you ring the helpline for a paper form and return it within six weeks, the claim starts from the day you rang. After that, it starts from the day the DWP receives the form. A printed or downloaded form counts only from the day it arrives. Taking your time over the answers is sensible, but keep an eye on the calendar. If you are running out of time, ask the helpline what to do before the six weeks are up.

15. Sending it to the wrong place

Use the envelope that came with the form. Otherwise, address it to Freepost DWP Attendance Allowance and write nothing else on the envelope — no street, no postcode, no stamp. Do not send it to your GP surgery, the council or a local office. If you live in Scotland, new claims are for Pension Age Disability Payment instead, through Social Security Scotland.

16. Not keeping a copy

Photograph or photocopy every page before posting. If the DWP rings with questions, or you later need to challenge the decision, you will want to know exactly what you wrote.

17. Claiming when another benefit already covers it

Attendance Allowance cannot be paid on top of Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance or some similar disability benefits. If one of those is already in payment, check before claiming.

After the decision

18. Missing the one-month window to ask for a reconsideration

If the claim is refused, or you think the rate is wrong, you can ask the DWP to look at the decision again. This is called mandatory reconsideration, and it is free. You usually need to ask within one month of the date on the decision letter — and if you write, your letter must arrive within that month. You can ask by phone, by letter or on a form; the contact details are on the decision letter. Explain which part of the decision you think is wrong and why, and send any new evidence you have not sent before. A late request is only accepted with a good reason, such as a hospital stay or a bereavement, and you will need to explain it. If the answer is still no after reconsideration, you can appeal to an independent tribunal.

Before challenging a lower-rate award, it is worth getting advice from Citizens Advice or Age UK, because the whole decision is looked at again.

19. Not reporting a change

Once you are awarded Attendance Allowance, the declaration commits you to reporting changes straight away on the helpline, 0800 731 0122. GOV.UK lists, among others:

• your condition or the help you need changes — for example, how many times a day you need help;
• you go into hospital or a care home;
• you plan to go abroad for more than four weeks;
• a medical professional says you may have 12 months or less to live;
• you change your name, address, bank or doctor.

This works both ways. Not reporting can lead to an overpayment you have to repay, or worse. But if your needs have grown — for instance, you were awarded the lower rate and now need help at night as well — telling the helpline is how the rate can be looked at again.

A short checklist

1. Night questions answered, even if nobody helps at night.
2. Numbers in the “how often”, “how long” and “how many days” boxes.
3. Helpers named at question 18; GP at 19; other professionals at 17.
4. Care start date at question 28.
5. Question 20 ticked, signed and dated; question 64 signed and dated.
6. Copies, not originals, listed at question 65.
7. Sent within six weeks of ringing for the form, to the Freepost address.
8. A copy kept at home.
9. The decision letter’s date noted, so the one-month window is not missed.

If you would like a hand with it

We are a private company, Virix Ltd, not part of any government department. We fill in the AA1 with you over the telephone, in your own words, then print it and post it to you to check, sign and send. It costs £149, once. If the claim is refused, we help you ask for the decision to be looked at again at no extra cost, and if the answer is still no, we refund the full £149. Or you can choose to pay £249 only if the claim is awarded. Equally, the claim is free to make yourself, and Age UK and Citizens Advice help at no charge where they have capacity. How the options compare.