Attendance Allowance form AA1, question by question

The form is AA1A, DWP print date 11/25, 32 pages and 65 numbered questions (01 to 65), with a separate 12 page notes booklet. The GOV.UK publication page showed it last updated on 20 February 2026. You can read the form and the notes booklet there. The numbers in this guide are from the paper form. We have not seen the online application's screens, so treat them as a guide to what is asked.

Nothing on the form is added up to a total. Attendance Allowance is decided on the care you need by day and by night, so the form is mostly questions about help and supervision. Questions 29 to 39 are about the day, 40 and 41 about supervision, 42 to 45 about the night.

The form in order

• Question 1: Special Rules for End of Life. See below.
• Questions 2 to 14: about you, where you live, time abroad, other countries and Pension Age Disability Payment.
• Question 15: signing for someone else. See below.
• Questions 16 to 27: conditions, other people who help, your GP, consent, reports, tests and aids.
• Questions 28 to 46: the care needs, each below, starting with question 28.
• Questions 47 to 49: hospital, care home and Constant Attendance Allowance.
• Questions 50 to 54: bank details. Questions 55 to 62: the statement. Question 63: extra information.
• Questions 64 and 65: declaration and list of documents.

How to answer, from the form, the notes and Citizens Advice

• Use black ink. If you make a mistake, cross it out and do not use correction fluid. You do not have to fill the form in in one go.
• “Usually means most of the time.” “During the day includes the evening.” “By night we mean when the household has closed down at the end of the day.” “Help means physical help, guidance or encouragement from someone else so you can do the task.”
• “It is important that you tell us about the difficulty you have or the help you need, whether you get the help or not.”
• Citizens Advice says to use the blank boxes for questions 28 to 46 to explain, and not just tick or write numbers. It says to say how many times you need help each day, to explain good days and bad days, to say if tasks take longer or hurt, and that it is fine to repeat yourself in different answers. Read their page on the form.
• The notes say disabilities affect people more on one day than another, and ask you to say as much as you can about how yours varies. Day and night help can be different, which is why there are separate questions.
• Do not assume the person deciding will know your condition. Citizens Advice says the decision maker is not a medical expert.

Question 1 asks whether you are claiming under the special rules. If a doctor or medical professional has said you might have 12 months or less to live, GOV.UK says: you get the higher rate, £114.60 a week, and you will not need to go to a face to face assessment. The GOV.UK end of life page sets this out.

• A medical professional completes form SR1. You ask them for it, and they either give it to you or send it to DWP. The form notes say you do not have to pay for it and do not have to see the doctor to get it.
• You still make the claim, online or on the claim form. On AA1, answer yes at question 1. The form says you then do not need to answer the care questions. It says “questions 21 to 46” at question 1 and “go to question 47” at question 20, so skip the care questions either way.
• If you do not tick the special rules box, the form notes say DWP cannot normally pay you under the special rules. (The notes booklet says to tick the box "at question 12", but on the form it is question 1.)
• You can claim for someone else under the special rules, and GOV.UK says they do not need to give permission. The form notes say DWP writes to them about Attendance Allowance but does not mention the special rules.
• It can be hard to predict how long someone might live. GOV.UK says that if a medical professional has not talked to you about this, you can still ask them to support your claim.

The six month qualifying period is waived. The Special Rules also apply if you already get Attendance Allowance and a medical professional says you might have 12 months or less to live: GOV.UK says to contact the helpline straight away on 0800 731 0122.

What it asks. Whether you are signing the form for someone else. If yes, it asks why, and tells you to sign the consent at question 20 and the declaration at question 64. Questions 2 to 14 are about the claimant, not you.

The form says you can fill in the form for someone else, but they must still sign themselves unless one of these applies:

• You have already been legally appointed to receive and deal with their benefits: you are a benefit appointee, a deputy, or you hold Power of Attorney for Property and Finance. The form says this does not include Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare.
• The person is too ill or disabled to claim for themselves, or lacks the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, and you wish to be appointed to deal with their benefits.
• You are completing the form in their absence or without their knowledge.

The choices the form offers at question 15

• Claiming under the special rules for end of life. The form says you may want to tell the person that you have claimed for them, because DWP sends them letters about Attendance Allowance and there is no mention of end of life or the special rules in them.
• Appointee appointed by DWP.
• I want to be appointed to act on their behalf. The form says DWP will contact you about this.
• I hold Power of Attorney for Property and Finance. The form asks whether you have an online account. If not, it asks you to send your full registered Property and Finance documents, original or certified copy, and says not sending them could cause delays. If yes, DWP contacts you to request the access code.
• Deputy, tutor or curator bonis or judicial factor (Scottish terms), or a corporate acting body or corporate appointee.

Unless DWP has already seen your authority, the form says it needs to see it before it can process the claim, so send the power of attorney or the relevant documents with the claim.

You can also help without becoming an appointee. GOV.UK says anyone with a genuine connection to the person can get information about their claim, and can manage the claim for them if they have written authority or the person is with them when they call the helpline.

Appointees, from GOV.UK

• Only 1 appointee can act for a claimant. It can be a friend, a relative or an organisation.
• An appointee signs the claim form, tells the benefit office about changes, and spends the benefit in the claimant's best interests. GOV.UK says that if the benefit is overpaid, you could be held responsible depending on the circumstances.
• To apply for Attendance Allowance, contact the Attendance Allowance helpline. DWP arranges to visit the claimant and interviews you. You fill in form BF56, and if DWP agrees you are sent form BF57. GOV.UK says you are not the appointee until that happens.
• Read the GOV.UK appointee page.

Power of Attorney, from GOV.UK

• There are two types of lasting power of attorney (LPA), health and welfare, and property and financial affairs. Property and financial affairs covers things like collecting benefits or a pension and can be used once registered, with the donor's permission.
• A health and welfare LPA only applies when the person cannot make their own decisions, and the AA1 form says it does not count for signing the claim.
• A certified copy of a registered LPA can be used to prove an attorney has permission to act. An LPA is legally binding only in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have different processes.
• Read the GOV.UK power of attorney pages.

• Question 16, your illnesses or disabilities. For each: its name, how long you have had it, the medicines or treatments prescribed, and the dosage and how often. If you send a spare up to date printed prescription list, you do not need to list medicines and dosage, but the form says you still need to say what your illness or disability is. Continue at question 63 if you need more room.
• Question 17, anyone else you have seen in the last 12 months apart from your GP: a hospital doctor or consultant, a district or specialist nurse, a community psychiatric nurse, an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist, an audiologist or a social worker. Give their details, how often you see them and when you last did.
• Question 18, anyone who helps you, such as a carer, support worker, nurse, friend, neighbour or family member: their name and address, what help they give and how often. If more than one person helps, use question 63.
• Question 19, your GP. The form says the GP only gives details of medical fact and does not decide whether you can get Attendance Allowance. If you do not know the GP's name, give the surgery or health centre.
• Question 20, consent. The form says you do not have to agree to DWP contacting the people involved with you, but that if you do not agree, DWP may be unable to check the claim. Tick, sign and date. The checklist at question 65 asks if you have.
• Questions 21 to 23. Reports (send a copy if you have one, and the form says not to worry if you do not), waiting lists for surgery and tests, with dates and results where you know them.
• Questions 24 to 26 ask what type of home you live in, where the toilet is and where you sleep. Say if the toilet or your bed is upstairs, and say it again at questions 30 and 33 if it affects you.
• Question 27, aids and adaptations. The form asks you to tick the second box for items prescribed by a health care professional, and to say how each helps and what difficulty you have using it or what help you need from another person to use it. Citizens Advice says to mention aids in the relevant care question as well, for example a grab rail in question 31.

Open a question below. Each gives what the form asks, the legal condition the answer feeds, practical tips and example answers. Questions 29 to 39 are about the day (the form counts the evening as day), 40 and 41 about supervision, 42 to 45 about the night.

What they ask. Question 47 asks if you are in hospital, a care home or a similar place now and whether a local authority, health authority, education authority or government department pays towards the stay. Question 48 asks if you came out in the past six weeks. Question 49 asks if you get or are waiting to hear about Constant Attendance Allowance.

• GOV.UK says you cannot usually get Attendance Allowance if you live in a care home and your local authority pays for your care, and that you can still claim if you pay all your care home costs yourself.
• The DWP notes say that if you are awarded Attendance Allowance while in hospital, a care home or a similar place, DWP cannot pay you until you come out, but it can pay a private patient or resident who pays without help from public funds, and may still pay under the special rules if you are in a hospice.
• The rules are in the Social Security (Attendance Allowance) Regulations 1991. Regulation 8 says regulations 6 and 7 do not apply to the first 28 days of a stay, and treats stays separated by an interval of 28 days or less as one continuous period. The 28 days do not apply if you are already in hospital or a funded care home on the day your entitlement starts (regulation 8(3)). Regulation 7 is the care home rule. If you alternate between home and a care home for respite, keep careful records of the dates.
• GOV.UK says to contact the helpline straight away if you go into hospital or a care home, and gives what you will need to provide: report a change in circumstances.
• GOV.UK says that if you get Constant Attendance Allowance at the same time, your Attendance Allowance is reduced by the amount of Constant Attendance Allowance you get.

What it asks. An optional statement from someone who knows the claimant. It asks how often they see the person, what the person's illnesses and disabilities are and how they are affected, the writer's job or relationship, and the writer's name, address, daytime phone number, signature and date.

What it asks. Anything else you think DWP should know about your claim. The form says to continue on a separate piece of paper if necessary, and to write your name and National Insurance number at the top of each page.

• Question 64, declaration. The form says DWP cannot pay any benefit until you have signed the declaration and returned the form. By signing you agree the information is complete and correct and that you will report changes straight away on 0800 731 0122. It lists what can happen if you give wrong or incomplete information or do not report changes: prosecution, a financial penalty, a reduced or stopped Attendance Allowance, or being overpaid and having to pay it back.
• Print your name as well as signing. If you are signing for someone else, the form tells you at question 15 to sign here and at question 20.
• Question 65, documents. List everything you send, for example a prescription list, a certificate of vision impairment, a medical report or a care plan. The form says to send copies, because DWP cannot return them. The checklist asks you to check questions 20, 64, 19, 17, 18 and 28.
• Questions 50 to 54 ask for bank or building society details. The form says it is very important to fill in all the boxes correctly, because wrong details may delay payment or lose money.
• Send the form in the envelope provided. GOV.UK says to write nothing except the Freepost address on it, and that it needs no postcode or stamp. GOV.UK says a text or letter explaining when to expect a decision follows within 3 weeks of sending your claim.

The DWP notes booklet suggests you write down what you needed help with or found difficult over one or two days, and if you have good days and bad days, over a good day and a bad day. It says to start from the time you get up in the morning, through 24 hours, to the time you get up the following morning, and that you can send the record in with your form. Citizens Advice suggests keeping a diary for at least a week before you fill in the form.

We have made a free printable diary with a page for each of seven days and a night section, laid out in the order of the form's questions. It is free and asks for nothing.

Open the 7-day care diary

Free help is available. Age UK, Citizens Advice and Independent Age are in the box near the top of the page, and the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm) can send you a claim form. The claim form and its envelope are Freepost.

GOV.UK says Attendance Allowance helps with extra costs if you have a disability or health condition severe enough that you need someone to help look after you. It does not cover mobility needs. It is paid weekly and is not means tested. The DWP notes say you do not pay tax on it. The conditions are set out in section 64 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, which is about attention or supervision by day and by night, and in section 65, which covers the period and the rate. Unlike PIP there is no mobility component, so it covers care needs only.

You can get Attendance Allowance if you have reached State Pension age and all of these apply, per the GOV.UK eligibility page:

• You have a physical disability (including sensory disability, for example blindness), a mental disability (including learning difficulties), or a health condition.
• It is severe enough for you to need help caring for yourself or someone to supervise you, for your own or someone else's safety.
• You have needed that help for at least 6 months. The needs do not have to be met already: you do not have to have someone caring for you in order to claim.
• You are in Great Britain when you claim, have been in Great Britain for at least 2 of the last 3 years (this does not apply to a refugee or someone with humanitarian protection), are habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man or Channel Islands, and are not subject to immigration control (unless a sponsored immigrant). These conditions are in the Social Security (Attendance Allowance) Regulations 1991.
• You do not get Disability Living Allowance, PIP, Adult Disability Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance or Armed Forces Independence Payment.

Section 64(1A) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 lists pension age disability payment among the allowances that block Attendance Allowance entitlement, which is why Scotland has a separate route.

GOV.UK says you will only need an assessment if it is unclear how your disability or health condition affects you, and that you would be sent a letter saying why and where, with a medical professional examining you. You can check your own State Pension age on GOV.UK.

Came here from a PIP page? GOV.UK says that if you are over State Pension age you cannot usually make a new claim for PIP, and you can apply for Attendance Allowance instead. The exception is that you can make a new claim for PIP if you got PIP or Adult Disability Payment in the last 12 months. Attendance Allowance is a different benefit with its own form, decided on the help and supervision you need rather than on PIP activities. Attendance Allowance is a separate claim on its own form.

Moving between nations. GOV.UK says that if you get Attendance Allowance and move from England or Wales to Scotland, you must tell DWP and make a new claim for Pension Age Disability Payment, and your Attendance Allowance stops 13 weeks after you move. If you move from Scotland to England or Wales, GOV.UK says to apply for Attendance Allowance as soon as you move.

There are two rates only, based on the level of help you need. Both figures are from GOV.UK, as of 7 October 2026. Section 65(3) says the higher rate applies if you satisfy both the day and the night conditions, and the lower rate in any other case (section 65).

• Lower rate: £76.70 a week. GOV.UK: frequent help or constant supervision during the day, or supervision at night. The DWP notes list help with personal care frequently throughout the day, help with personal care during the night, someone to supervise you continually throughout the day, someone to watch over you at night, or someone with you when you are on dialysis.
• Higher rate: £114.60 a week. GOV.UK: help or supervision throughout both day and night, or a medical professional has said you are nearing the end of life.

Citizens Advice says to use the blank boxes to explain if you need help with personal tasks at least 3 times during the day, or 2 or more times during the night or once if it takes 20 minutes or more. Those are Citizens Advice's figures, not numbers in the Act. The DWP notes say “supervise” means someone watching over you to help you avoid substantial danger to yourself or other people.

GOV.UK says the claim starts on the date you make it if you apply online, on the date DWP receives the form if you print and post it, and on the date of your call if you phone the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 for a form and return it within 6 weeks. The law says you cannot be paid for any period before the date you claim (section 65(4) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, subject to the renewal exception in section 65(5)).

Section 65(4) says: “A person shall not be entitled to an attendance allowance for any period preceding the date on which he makes or is treated as making a claim for it.”

So the way you claim matters before you start. The claim routes, including the separate Northern Ireland route, are set out on GOV.UK. Age UK also says that if you claim by post it is usually best to phone for the form, because the date you call is recorded on it.

GOV.UK says you could get extra Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction if you get Attendance Allowance, so check with the helpline or office dealing with each. The DWP leaflet that comes with the form (AA5) says:

• If your claim is successful you may get an extra amount for severe disability with an income related benefit or Pension Credit. If someone is paid Carer's Allowance for looking after you, you may not be able to get that extra amount, but your Attendance Allowance is not affected.
• If you live in England or Wales and someone cares for you 35 hours or more a week, they may get Carer's Allowance once you are awarded Attendance Allowance, and must claim within 3 months of the decision or could lose benefit. See our Carer's Allowance guide.
• Our Council Tax guide and Blue Badge guide cover two other schemes with their own rules.

GOV.UK says Attendance Allowance decisions can go to mandatory reconsideration, and that you usually need to ask within one month of the date of the decision, or later with a good reason such as being in hospital or a bereavement. It says someone will look at your whole benefit claim again, and that your benefit may stop, stay the same, increase or decrease. If you still disagree, GOV.UK says you appeal to the tribunal within one month of getting the mandatory reconsideration decision. PIP and Attendance Allowance appeals go to the same Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, and our PIP tribunal guide describes that process in detail.