The 56 health conditions that could entitle you to £407 a month

Millions of Britons aged 66 or over and suffering from a medical condition or disability could be entitled to claim Attendance Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) worth as much as £407 a month to help with the cost of day-to-day personal care or supervision.

The state benefit is one of the most underclaimed in the UK, with as many as 3.4m people eligible for the support failing to claim it.

To qualify for Attendance Allowance, a person must be at the state pension age (currently 66) or older, resident in England, Scotland or Wales within the last two years and habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

The benefit is awarded to those with a qualifying illness or disability dependent on their needs, which might mean help with everyday tasks like getting washed and dressed, help with preparing meals or eating or help administering a prescribed medical treatment.

This means that while being diagnosed with arthritis might not in and of itself provide grounds for qualification, it will if the condition causes you pain that restricts, hinders or prohibits your activities.

You do not need to require a full-time carer for the money to be awarded, just some form of assistance with routine chores.

According to the DWP, there are 56 health conditions that might qualify you for the monthly financial assistance, a complete list of which follows.

1. Arthritis

2. Spondylosis

3. Back Pain – other/precise diagnosis not specified

4. Disease of the muscles, bones or joints

5. Trauma to limbs

6. Blindness

7. Deafness

8. Heart disease

9. Chest disease

10. Asthma

11. Cystic fibrosis

12. Cerebrovascular disease

13. Peripheral vascular disease

14. Epilepsy

15. Neurological diseases

16. Multiple sclerosis

17. Parkinson’s disease

18. Motor neurone disease

19. Chronic pain syndromes

20. Diabetes mellitus

21. Metabolic disease

22. Traumatic paraplegia/tetraplegia

23. Major trauma other than traumatic paraplegia/tetraplegia

24. Learning difficulties

25. Psychosis

26. Psychoneurosis

27. Personality disorder

28. Dementia

29. Behavioural disorder

30. Alcohol and drug abuse

31. Hyperkinetic syndrome

32. Renal disorders

33. Inflammatory bowel disease

34. Bowel and stomach disease

35. Blood disorders

36. Haemophilia

37. Multi-system disorders

38. Multiple allergy syndrome

39. Skin disease

40. Malignant disease

41. Severely mentally impaired

42. Double amputee

43. Deaf/blind

44. Haemodialysis

45. Frailty

46. Total parenteral autrition

47. AIDS

48. Infectious diseases: Viral disease - coronavirus Covid-19

49. Infectious diseases: Viral disease - precise diagnosis not specified

50. Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – tuberculosis

51. Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – precise diagnosis not specified

52. Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – malaria

53. Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – other/precise diagnosis not specified

54. Infectious diseases - other/precise diagnosis not specified

55. Cognitive disorder - other/precise diagnosis not specified

56. Terminally ill

The benefit is made available in two tiers, a standard rate and a higher rate, awarded depending on the severity of your needs and paid out every four weeks directly to your bank or building society account.

As of April 2023, those rates are:

• Standard: £68.10 a week (£272.40 per month)

• Higher: £101.75 a week (£407 per month)

It is not means-tested and is intended to allow people a greater degree of independence and to live in their own homes for as long as possible without requiring institutional care.

You can find more information on eligibility here and access here to the Attendance Allowance claim form you will need to print off, complete and send off to the department at Freepost DWP Attendance Allowance.

For further assistance, you can call the DWP’s dedicated helpline on 0800 731 0122 from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

You may not be eligible for Attendance Allowance if you already receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Adult Disability Payment or the care component of Disability Living Allowance.

PIP, however, might be an option for people who require additional financial support as a result of a physical or mental disability but are below pension age. You can find out more about it here.

If you already have a carer and require substantial support, they might be entitled to Carer’s Allowance, about which you can find out more here.

For more information on Attendance Allowance and assistance with applying, please visit Citizens Advice.