Attendance Allowance check → Attendance Allowance vs PIP vs DLA: which applies?

Attendance Allowance vs PIP vs DLA: which applies?

Who can get Attendance Allowance, PIP or DLA after State Pension age, what each one covers, the current weekly rates, and why you can only have one.

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

Attendance Allowance, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are often mentioned in the same breath. All three help with the extra costs of a disability or health condition, but they are not interchangeable. Which one a person can get depends mainly on their age, on whether they already get one of the others, and, for DLA, on their date of birth. Everything here is taken from GOV.UK and mygov.scot.

The short answer

• Attendance Allowance is the one to claim if you have reached State Pension age, need help looking after yourself or someone to keep an eye on you, and do not already get PIP or DLA.
• PIP is for people aged 16 or over who make a new claim before State Pension age. Someone already getting it does not lose it simply by getting older.
• DLA can no longer be claimed by adults. People who already have it and were born on or before 8 April 1948 carry on getting it for as long as they remain eligible.
• You can only get one of the three. Attendance Allowance cannot be paid on top of PIP or DLA.
• In Scotland, Attendance Allowance has been replaced by Pension Age Disability Payment, and PIP by Adult Disability Payment.

If you are not sure when you or your parent reached, or will reach, State Pension age, GOV.UK has a State Pension age checker that works it out from a date of birth.

What each benefit covers

Attendance Allowance: care only

Attendance Allowance is for people who need help caring for themselves, or someone to supervise them for their own or someone else’s safety, because of a physical disability (including sight or hearing loss), a mental disability or a health condition. GOV.UK is plain about one thing: it does not cover mobility needs. Difficulty walking to the shops or getting on a bus is not, on its own, what this benefit pays for. The help usually needs to have been needed for at least six months, with different rules for someone nearing the end of life. You do not need to have a carer to claim it. Our guide to what counts as needing help goes through the kinds of everyday difficulty the form asks about.

PIP: daily living and mobility

PIP has two parts. The daily living part is for help with things such as preparing food, eating and drinking, managing medicines or treatments, washing and bathing, using the toilet, dressing, reading, managing money, being around other people and communicating. The mobility part is for help with working out and following a route, physically moving around, or leaving home. You can get one part or both. PIP is assessed activity by activity, looking at whether a task can be done safely, how long it takes and whether help or equipment is needed, and the difficulty must be there more than half of the days over a 12-month period.

DLA: care and mobility

DLA also has two parts, called the care component and the mobility component. The care component is for help with things like washing, dressing, eating, using the toilet or communicating your needs, supervision to avoid danger, needing someone with you on dialysis, or not being able to prepare a cooked main meal. The mobility component is for walking difficulties, or needing guidance or supervision outdoors. Like Attendance Allowance, the care component can be paid even if no one is actually giving the care, or if you live alone.

Who can claim which, and when

Before State Pension age

Adults in England and Wales who have not reached State Pension age claim PIP. You must be 16 or over, have a long-term condition or disability, and expect the difficulties to last at least 12 months from when they started. GOV.UK says you also usually need to be under State Pension age to make a new PIP claim.

After State Pension age

Once someone is over State Pension age, GOV.UK says they cannot usually make a new claim for PIP and can apply for Attendance Allowance instead. There is one exception on GOV.UK: you can make a new claim for PIP if you got PIP or Adult Disability Payment in the last 12 months.

New claims for DLA are closed to adults altogether. The DLA guide on GOV.UK says that anyone over 16 cannot apply for it, and points people at State Pension age or older, who do not get DLA, to Attendance Allowance.

If you already get PIP

The new-claim rule is about starting a claim, not about keeping one. An existing PIP award runs on the terms set out in its decision letter, which, GOV.UK says, tells you how long you will get PIP for and when and if the claim will be reviewed. If it is reviewed, PIP carries on being paid while the review happens, and the outcome depends on how your needs have changed. Changes in your condition or circumstances still have to be reported, as with any PIP award. Reaching State Pension age is not among the changes GOV.UK lists for reporting.

If you already get DLA

This is where most confusion comes from, so here is exactly what GOV.UK says. If you were born on or before 8 April 1948, you will continue to get DLA as long as you are eligible for it. You are not being moved to PIP. If you were born after 8 April 1948, your DLA will end: DWP sends a letter saying when, and inviting you to apply for PIP. If you do apply, it has to be within 28 days of that letter, and DLA carries on until at least 28 days after a decision is made on the PIP claim. Unless your circumstances change, GOV.UK says you do not need to do anything until that letter arrives.

You may see claims online that everyone over 65 on DLA is now being moved across to PIP. That is not what GOV.UK says. The dividing line is the date of birth above.

Illustrative example, made up for this page: Margaret, born in 1946, has had DLA for many years for arthritis. Because she was born before 8 April 1948, she keeps her DLA for as long as she is eligible. She would not also claim Attendance Allowance, because the two cannot be paid together; if her needs grow, the change is reported on her existing DLA claim.

Rates

These are the weekly amounts on GOV.UK and mygov.scot at the time of writing. They are normally uprated each April.

Two things stand out. First, the care side lines up closely: the two Attendance Allowance rates are the same as the two PIP daily living rates and the middle and highest DLA care rates. DLA has an extra, lowest care rate of £30.30, for help for some of the day or with preparing cooked meals, which Attendance Allowance does not have. Second, only PIP and DLA can add a mobility payment on top. That is why someone who already has PIP or DLA with a mobility part will often be better off keeping it. For yearly totals and what an award can lead to, see Attendance Allowance rates and what else Attendance Allowance can unlock.

Can you get more than one?

No. GOV.UK lists this as a condition of Attendance Allowance: you must not get DLA, PIP, Adult Disability Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance or Armed Forces Independence Payment. In Scotland, mygov.scot says you cannot get Pension Age Disability Payment and Attendance Allowance at the same time. And for people moving from DLA to PIP, GOV.UK says PIP payments start as soon as DLA payments end, so the two are not paid together either.

Illustrative example, made up for this page: Tom is 72 and has never claimed a disability benefit. Since a stroke last year he needs help to wash and dress, and his wife checks on him at night. He is over State Pension age and has not had PIP in the last 12 months, so a new PIP claim is not open to him; Attendance Allowance is the one to look at. His difficulty walking to the post office would not count on its own, because Attendance Allowance has no mobility part, but his care needs by day and at night would.

Side-by-side comparison

In Scotland

• Pension Age Disability Payment is for people who have reached State Pension age and have care needs because of a disability or long-term health condition; it is replacing Attendance Allowance in Scotland, at the same £76.70 and £114.60 weekly rates.
• Adult Disability Payment is Scotland’s daily living and mobility payment in place of PIP, and mygov.scot says that someone who already gets it stays on it when they reach State Pension age rather than transferring to Pension Age Disability Payment.

Which one should you look at?

• Over State Pension age, no disability benefit yet, needs help with personal care or supervision: Attendance Allowance (Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland). Our eligibility check goes through each condition in plain words.
• Over State Pension age and had PIP or Adult Disability Payment within the last 12 months: GOV.UK says a new PIP claim is possible, which may be worth weighing up if getting about outdoors is a big part of the difficulty.
• Already on PIP: it continues on the terms of the award letter; report changes as GOV.UK asks.
• Already on DLA and born on or before 8 April 1948: it continues as long as you are eligible; report changes to the Disability Service Centre.
• Already on DLA and born after 8 April 1948: wait for the DWP letter inviting a PIP claim, then reply within the 28 days it gives.

If you are helping a parent sort this out, claiming Attendance Allowance for a parent explains who can fill in and sign the form, and how to fill in the form walks through the AA1 itself.

Nothing on this page is legal advice, and we cannot say which benefit any person will be awarded; that is decided by the DWP or, in Scotland, Social Security Scotland.

If you would like a hand with it

We are a private company, Virix Ltd, not part of any government department. We go through the AA1 with you, or with the person you care for, over the telephone, write the answers up in your own words, then print the form and post it to you to read, 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 pay £15 now for printing and posting, and £299 only if the claim is awarded (terms). Equally, the claim is free to make yourself, and Age UK and Citizens Advice help at no charge where they have capacity, as do some local services. How the options compare.