Attendance Allowance check → Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland

Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland

Scotland’s replacement for Attendance Allowance: who can get it, the rates, how to apply, what happened to existing awards, and how to challenge decisions.

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

If you, or a parent you help, live in Scotland, the care benefit for people over State Pension age is no longer Attendance Allowance. It is Pension Age Disability Payment, run by Social Security Scotland. This page sets out who can get it, how to apply, what happened to existing Attendance Allowance awards, and how to challenge a decision, using what mygov.scot and GOV.UK say.

What Pension Age Disability Payment is

mygov.scot describes it as extra money for people who have both care needs because of a disability or long-term health condition, and have reached State Pension age. It is paid at two rates, the same as Attendance Allowance:

• Lower rate, £76.70 a week, for people who need help or supervision during the day or the night.
• Higher rate, £114.60 a week, for people who need help or supervision during the day and the night. mygov.scot says that if you are terminally ill you automatically get the higher rate.

It is not means-tested: income and savings do not affect it. You do not need to have a carer to get it. You cannot get Pension Age Disability Payment and Attendance Allowance at the same time.

mygov.scot defines care needs as help and support you need during the day or night. That can be help you need but do not already have, help you only need sometimes, and help from a person or from an aid, tool or adaptation. As with Attendance Allowance, it is the help that is needed that counts. Our page on what counts as needing help goes through the everyday tasks in more detail.

How it compares with Attendance Allowance

Who can apply

According to mygov.scot, you can apply if you have reached State Pension age, and you have had care needs during the day or night for 6 months or more because of a disability or health condition.

mygov.scot says you can still apply if:

• you have not had care needs for 6 months yet (if the application succeeds, the award begins 6 months from when the care needs started);
• you are waiting for a diagnosis, or do not have one;
• you have a terminal illness, which has a separate fast-track process (see below).

Two situations are worth knowing about:

• Care homes. You can apply if you pay all your own care costs. If a local council pays for your care, you cannot usually get it, though you may still apply and would only be paid if you leave the care home.
• Adult Disability Payment. If you already get Adult Disability Payment, you stay on it when you reach State Pension age and do not transfer.

If you already get Attendance Allowance

You do not need to apply. mygov.scot says Social Security Scotland will move your benefit to Pension Age Disability Payment without you having to do anything, and send you a letter telling you what will happen when you transfer. It says there will be no gap in your entitlement and no change to your award, and that the DWP will keep paying Attendance Allowance until Pension Age Disability Payment starts. You do not need to contact the DWP to have Attendance Allowance stopped.

mygov.scot says changes before your Attendance Allowance finishes go to the DWP; once Pension Age Disability Payment has started, they go to Social Security Scotland.

Moving to Scotland

GOV.UK says that if you get Attendance Allowance and move from England or Wales to Scotland, you must tell the DWP and make a new claim for Pension Age Disability Payment. Attendance Allowance stops 13 weeks after the move.

How to apply

mygov.scot says there are usually two parts to the application, and you can apply online or by phone and paper. mygov.scot also has an eligibility checker.

Online

• Register for myaccount with a user name and password, and start the application.
• Submit part 1 within 14 days.
• Submit part 2 within 56 days (8 weeks). You can ask for more time if you need it.

You can save the online application as you go. If part 2 is not submitted within 8 weeks, mygov.scot says Social Security Scotland will assume you do not want to go ahead.

Phone and paper

By this route, an adviser takes details to start part 1, then Social Security Scotland posts a part 2 paper form with a prepaid envelope, to return within 8 weeks.

If an Attendance Allowance form is used instead

mygov.scot says that if you send an Attendance Allowance application to Social Security Scotland, they will use it as an application for Pension Age Disability Payment, and you do not need to fill in a separate one. If you applied to the DWP for Attendance Allowance when you should have applied for Pension Age Disability Payment, the DWP sends your application to Social Security Scotland, and if it succeeds you are paid from the date you applied for Attendance Allowance. Our guide to the AA1 covers that form.

What the two parts ask

Part 1 is personal details, including National Insurance number and bank details (you can still apply without an account).

Part 2 asks what help and support you need, about your condition, medication, treatments and equipment, and who is involved in your care. The questions cover everyday tasks such as getting in and out of bed, washing, the toilet, dressing, eating, staying safe, medication and needs during the night. mygov.scot says you only need to give detailed answers to the questions that are relevant to you.

Supporting information

mygov.scot says you need to provide one piece of supporting information from a professional that confirms your conditions, disability or needs. It does not need to include a diagnosis. A prescription list, a care plan or a letter from a professional can all count. You can send it with the application or within 28 days of submitting part 2, or ask Social Security Scotland to get it for you. If there is a good reason it is not available, mygov.scot says an award can still be made without it.

Part 2 can also include an optional statement of support from someone who knows you well, such as a family member, friend, unpaid carer or professional. It should not be written by the person applying for themselves, or by someone with legal power to act for them, such as an appointee.

When payments start

If the application succeeds, the earliest date you can be paid from is the date you submitted part 1 online, or the date you phoned to start the application. mygov.scot says the benefit is normally paid every 4 weeks for the previous 4 weeks. The decision comes in a letter called a notice of determination.

Terminal illness: a faster route

Scotland has its own Special Rules for Terminal Illness. mygov.scot says a person is considered terminally ill if they have a progressive disease from which death may reasonably be expected, and that only a registered doctor or nurse involved in their diagnosis or care can make that judgement. Unlike the DWP rules, the healthcare professional does not have to give a life expectancy. Awards are for life and are not reviewed unless circumstances change.

The application has only one part: a shortened application form, plus a form called BASRiS from the doctor or nurse. mygov.scot says the DWP's equivalent forms, DS1500 or SR1, or confirmation by phone or letter, can be used instead. It says Social Security Scotland aims to decide within 7 working days of getting both, and pays the higher rate weekly in advance.

Anyone can complete the application for someone else, but mygov.scot says they must let the person know and have their consent. Our page on cancer and the special rules explains the DWP version.

Applying for a parent in Scotland

mygov.scot describes three ways a family member can help:

• Third party representative. If your parent can make their own decisions, they cannot have an appointee, but you can help them apply. They must give permission, and for Pension Age Disability Payment this can be done online as part of the application. mygov.scot says your parent should apply online with their own email address; if they have none, apply by phone or on paper.
• Appointee. If your parent cannot make their own decisions, you can apply to become their appointee, including online as a personal appointee when you apply. Social Security Scotland arranges a visit first.
• Power of attorney or guardianship. If you already have the legal right to act, you do not need to become an appointee, but Social Security Scotland will ask for the original documents or certified copies.

mygov.scot adds that a DWP appointee cannot normally act for someone's Social Security Scotland applications and awards. Our guide to claiming for a parent covers Scottish powers of attorney and the DWP side.

A made-up illustrative example, not a real case: a son in Leeds helps his mother in Perth, who can still make her own decisions. She starts the online application with her own email address and names him as her third party representative. He helps her with part 2, attaches her prescription list, and asks her neighbour to write the statement of support.

If you disagree with the decision

These decisions are not challenged through the DWP. mygov.scot describes two stages:

• Re-determination. A new team at Social Security Scotland, not involved in the original decision, makes a full new decision. For Pension Age Disability Payment you have 42 calendar days (6 weeks) from being told the original decision. A late request may be accepted with a good reason, up to one year after the decision letter. Payment could go up, down or stay the same.
• Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, within 31 calendar days of the letter giving the re-determination decision, or saying it could not be made in time. Late appeals follow a similar good-reason rule. An appeal without a re-determination first will not be accepted.

You can ask online or on the paper forms on mygov.scot. If your health has changed since you applied, mygov.scot says to report a change of circumstances instead. Our page on what to do after a refusal covers the DWP route.

Getting help

mygov.scot mentions Citizens Advice Scotland, Advocacy.scot and Age Scotland. Pension Age Disability Payment can lead to other help, such as Pension Credit, but it is not added automatically: see what Attendance Allowance can unlock, which covers Scotland too.

Nothing on this page is legal advice, and we cannot say whether any application will succeed; that is decided by Social Security Scotland or, on appeal, the tribunal.

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.