Attendance Allowance check → Night-time needs on the Attendance Allowance form

Night-time needs on the Attendance Allowance form

Why the night questions on the AA1 decide between the two rates, what counts as help at night, and illustrative examples of clear answers.

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

Questions 42 to 45 of the AA1 form, on pages 22 to 24, ask about help during the night. They take up less space than the daytime questions, but they often matter more to the outcome. People leave them blank because they live alone, or because getting up at night has become normal. This guide explains what the night questions ask, what counts, and how to describe it clearly.

Why the night questions matter

Attendance Allowance has two weekly rates, and the night decides which one applies.

The difference is £37.90 a week. Someone whose needs meet both the day and the night conditions, but who only describes the day, can be awarded the lower rate. Night-time need on its own can also be enough for the lower rate, even if the daytime needs are not.

The law sets out two ways of meeting the night condition. Someone must need, at night, either:

• prolonged or repeated attention from another person with bodily functions — such as using the toilet, turning over, or taking medicine; or
• another person to be awake for a prolonged period, or at frequent intervals, to watch over them and avoid substantial danger to themselves or others.

Claims under the special rules, for someone nearing the end of life, do not need these questions; they are paid at the higher rate.

What “night” means on the form

The form says: by night we mean when the household has closed down at the end of the day. Help in the evening before everyone goes to bed belongs in the daytime questions.

The DWP's guidance for decision makers describes night as the quiet period an ordinary household goes through in the dark hours. If you sleep at odd hours, night is judged by what a typical household would think of as night, not by your own pattern. Getting up and wandering at half past four in the morning, for example, can count as night.

What “repeated”, “prolonged” and “watching over” mean

These words come from the law, and the DWP's guidance explains how they are read.

• Repeated means more than once in a night — and a regular, dependable need, not a one-off or occasional one.
• Prolonged means “some little time”. As a starting point, the guidance says help lasting less than 20 minutes is unlikely to be prolonged, but each case is looked at on its own facts.
• Watching over means someone being awake for the purpose of keeping watch. They do not have to be looking at you the whole time. The frequent intervals do not have to be spread across the night; they can fall in one part of it.

This is why the form asks for numbers: how many times each night, and how many minutes each time. Include the time it takes to settle back down, not only the moment of help.

Question 42: help during the night

The form lists the kinds of night-time help separately. For each one it asks how often each night — 1, 2 or 3 or more — and how many minutes each time.

• Sleeping comfortably — settling, getting into position, being propped up, putting bedclothes back.
• Toilet needs — getting to the toilet, or using a commode, bedpan or bottle.
• Turning over or changing position in bed.
• Incontinence — changing pads, clothes or bedding.
• Taking medication.
• Treatment or therapy — oxygen, for example.
• Needing encouragement or reminders about the toilet, incontinence, medication or treatment, because of difficulty concentrating or motivating yourself.

There is then a space for anything else you want to say. Use it to explain what happens, and why.

Question 43: how many nights a week

Give a number. If it varies, say what a typical week looks like: “Most nights — at least five a week, and every night when my chest is bad.”

Questions 44 and 45: someone to watch over you

Question 44 asks whether you usually need someone to be awake to watch over you. The reasons in the tick boxes include preventing danger to yourself or others, not being aware of common dangers, risk of harming yourself, wandering, confusion, antisocial or aggressive behaviour, and hearing voices. It asks how many times a night someone needs to be awake, and for how long on average. Question 45 asks how many nights a week.

This is not about someone sleeping in the next room. It is about someone needing to be awake because of a real risk.

Illustrative examples

These examples are illustrative examples only. They are invented, not about real people, and not wording to copy. Describe your own nights.

Getting to the toilet

Less helpful: “Up once or twice.”

Clearer: “I need the toilet two or three times every night because of my bladder. I am unsteady when I first get up and have fallen on the way twice this year. My wife gets up with me each time, steadies me there and back and helps with my pyjamas. It takes about fifteen minutes each time, then I need help getting my legs back into bed.”

Pain and turning over

Less helpful: “I don't sleep well.”

Clearer: “Because of arthritis in my spine and hips, I cannot turn over by myself. I wake in pain about three times a night. My husband has to roll me on to my other side and rearrange the pillows. With getting comfortable again, it takes about ten minutes each time. This happens every night.”

Incontinence

Less helpful: “I wear pads.”

Clearer: “Three or four nights a week my pad leaks through. My daughter helps me out of bed, washes me, changes my nightclothes and strips and remakes the bed. It takes about thirty minutes.”

Confusion and wandering

Less helpful: “Gets a bit muddled.”

Clearer: (written by a family member) “Mum has dementia. Most nights she wakes around 2am, thinks it is morning and tries to get dressed and go out. She has unlocked the back door twice and once turned the cooker on. I sleep lightly and get up when I hear her, usually twice a night, for twenty to forty minutes, until she settles. This happens five or six nights a week.”

Living alone

Less helpful: “Not applicable — I live on my own.”

Clearer: “I live alone, so nobody helps me at night, but I need it. I get up twice a night for the toilet, holding on to the walls, and I have fallen in the dark twice this year. The second time I could not get up until morning. I have stopped drinking after 6pm so that I get up less.”

The last example matters. The form asks about the help you need, whether you get it or not.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the section blank because nobody helps. Need counts, not whether help is there.
• Numbers without minutes. “Twice a night” without how long each time leaves out half the picture.
• Counting only the moment of help. Include getting there, getting back and settling down again.
• Putting evening help here. Help before the household goes to bed belongs in the daytime section. See our guide to the daytime questions.
• Not explaining why a simple fix does not work. The DWP's guidance says a decision maker may ask whether an aid would remove the need — a commode by the bed, or tablets left on the bedside table. If you have tried these, or they would not help, say why: “I cannot get on to a commode without someone holding me.”
• Overstating it. You sign a declaration that the form is correct. Describe a typical week honestly, including how often the bad nights come.

Keep a record for a week or two

The notes that come with the form suggest keeping a record through the full 24 hours, until you get up the next morning. For nights, jot down each time you wake, what you needed, who helped and roughly how long it took. A short record over a week or two usually shows a clearer pattern than memory does, and you can send it with the form. The guide to the whole AA1 form explains what else to include, and our page on rates explains how the money is paid.

If you would like a hand with it

We are a private company, Virix Ltd. We go through the day and night questions with you by telephone, write up your answers on the AA1, and post the finished form to you to read, sign and send. It costs £149, once — and if they say no, we help you ask them to look again, free; if the answer is still no, you get the £149 back. Or £249, paid only if the claim is awarded. It is just as valid to fill the form in yourself for free, or to ask Age UK or Citizens Advice, who help at no charge where they can. How the options compare.