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Benefits Guide

Introduction

This guide describes:

• Attendance Allowance for severely disabled people aged 65 or over who need help with personal care.
• Carer’s Allowance for adults who are unable to work full-time because they are caring for someone who is getting the care component of Disability Living Allowance at the highest or middle rate or Attendance Allowance or Constant Attendance Allowance.
• Disability Living Allowance for severely disabled people who need help with getting around, or with personal care or with both. You must have become sufficiently disabled to qualify and have made your claim before your 65th birthday.
• Severe Disablement Allowance for people who are too ill or disabled to work. This benefit is available only to those already claiming or entitled to make a further claim.

The benefits described in this guide are non-contributory, social security benefits, which means that you do not need to have paid National Insurance (NI) contributions to qualify for them. They are for people who are severely disabled or who have been ill for some time, and for people who are caring for them. In most cases a learning disability or mental ill health is covered as well as physical disablement.

Some of the rules in this guide – for example, earnings rules – are concerned with amounts of money. The amounts used are those that apply at the time of publication. For detailed information on all benefit rates see leaflet GL23 Social security benefit rates. You can get this leaflet from your Jobcentre Plus office or social security office.

When we talk about the Secretary of State, we normally mean an officer of the Department for Work and Pensions making a decision, or acting, on behalf of the Secretary of State.

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