Attendance Allowance vs PIP

So my mum, who is 80, just lost her husband (my dad) and I want to try and get her help in case of either PIP or Attendance Allowance as without his pension she will struggle, but I don't know if she is ill enough to get any of those. Could I ask some questions ? Thanks.

1. What is the key difference between AA and PIP ? Does AA need a F2F assessment ?

2. If my mum lived with a adult family member, would she still be allowed AA or does the supervision have to be a carer ?

3. I realise you can't specify if a specific person is allowed AA or PIP but have things like arthritis, insulin based diabetes, and drug induced hepatitis ever been known to grant these even if under control ? Given my mum is on insulin could a family member being at home 24/7 to make sure she takes it mean she could be allowed AA ?

4. If the family member who lives with her is on ESA IR in Support Group would that means they are not healthy enough to be classed as supervision for her ?

5. How does AA differ from Carers Allowance and similar question to above, could a family member on ESA IR in Support Group be classed as a carer or would they not be classed well enough to be deemed able to do that even if it is just supervision and making basic meals ? Does the carer have to apply or the person who needs the help ?

Thanks for your help and sorry for so many questions.

Hi Benson

I am sorry for your loss. For the avoidance of any doubt I'd just like to add to what Gordon has posted.

Re the following quote from your post:

"I want to try and get her help in case of either PIP or Attendance Allowance as without his pension she will struggle, but I don't know if she is ill enough to get any of those."

As your mother is over state pension age I'm afraid she wouldn't now be able to claim PIP. Quote from PIP eligibility criteria on government website:

"If you're over State Pension age, you can apply for Attendance Allowance instead. Or if you've received PIP before, you can still make a new claim if you were eligible for it in the year before you reached State Pension age."

For further information on PIP eligibility please click

www.gov.uk/pip/eligibility#:~:text=If%20...tate%20Pension%20age.

Good luck with any AA claim for your mother.

Kind regards

Mr B

Hi. Thanks both of you very much for your earlier help. I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread post or not so hope it is okay to use my existing one, if not feel free to create this as a new one, I now realise my mum can not get PIP or Carers, so it has to be AA or nothing. I have been reading through your excellent AA guide and have some more questions about AA for my 80 year old mother, as mentioned earlier she lost her husband (my dad) about 6 months ago so things he used to help her with can no longer obviously be done. I live with her but I am in the support group of ESA and have a lot of health issues of my own. I am also male which makes some of the help not really suitable for me to do (helping her shower, etc).

1. I am a bit confused by the "I have difficulty with..." and "I need help with....". These questions show up a lot in the forms. Does only choosing "difficulty with" mean you are a lot less likely to get AA than if you chose "needs help" ? For instance, my mum has difficulty cutting up her food, but because her arthritis differs in severity from day to day, she doesn't always need help with it, but on the bad days she tends to choose toast or other item you can eat without needing strong grip or cutting. So what do I choose ?

2. On questions 16, it says "Does anyone else help you because of your illnesses or disabilities?". If I say "no" and leave it blank does it reduce the chances of getting AA ? My mum doesn't have a carer but my sister (her daughter) visits once every 7 days or so to see my mum and might do the hoovering and cleaning when there or anything my mum needs. But she is not a carer and she lives nearly an hour away, is it likely to help or hinder to add her name and address to this section ? Seems a very ambiguous question.

3. Does AA work via a score system like ESA ? So the more help needed the more likely to pass ? Or would even needing help for 1 task be enough to qualify ? If my mum realistically needs 2 hours overnight supervision in total, 2 times a night, is that enough or does it have a threshold ?

4. As mentioned I live with my mum but I am in the support group of ESA as I have a lot of my own health issues. Do I need to mention me at all on the forms that I live with her ? My own health issues, inc chronic fatigue and massive 33 stone size stop me being able to help my mum much with the things she needs, and obviously I can't help her much when it comes to the shower and other personal things. Just might seem odd to them that I live with her but am not listed as a helper.

5. I am confused with the "stumble" questions, what does stumble even mean in actual terms ? My mum is 80, so like a lot of fragile elderly people she stumbles. It asks how often in the last month she has stumbled. How bad does the stumble have to be ?? She almost tripped over a chair leg today, would that be a stumble ? She just put her hand on the chair to stop herself falling. She has fallen three times in 5 years which she required help getting her up (my dad at the time), but she stumbles a lot more, but she doesn't fall with the stumbles (other than the 3 times mentioned). On one of her falls she broke her leg, but this was 5 years ago, should that still be added ?

6. On the questions where my mum doesn't need help and it asks "how often" do I just leave it blank or put a "0" ?

7. On the "I have difficulty or need help sleeping comfortably" it asks 1,2 or 3 times a night and asks the minutes. This is very confusing. What does this mean ? Someone puffing up her pillows ? My mum says she has difficulty sleeping comfortably and she says she needs to move position, but she manages to do this herself with some effort. So what do I say here ? Not sure why they ask the amount of times or minutes, again it reminds me of ESA score based answers rather than just asking if help would be helpful.

8. Are most results given from info on the forms ? Or do they often do ESA style F2F appointments for 80 year olds ? You mention in the guide a health care provider might turn up at a claimers home. Do they also often contact anyone put down as a helper (if I were to put my sister down for instance) ?

9. My mum has never claimed any benefits in her life and so is a bit unsure of how it all works, it was my suggestion she claims AA as I believe she genuinely needs and deserves it. She is very concerned they will contact social services or something if they read she needs help but it is mentioned in the forms that she doesn't get help. For example I mention her arthritis means she can't safely sort her medication out so needs help with them but if she doesn't have a carer to do this won't this be confusing ? You mentioned in the guide this doesn't matter, so can I ease her mind that they won't read it and send out social services or some other type of organisation just because she needs help with things but doesn't get it ?

10. Does she need the AA "claim pack" you mention in the guide ? I am just using the editable PDF form I downloaded online that I had just planned to send to them in the post. Also if she passes or fails is this notified by post or via phone ?

11. Are those charts at the end of the AA guide your own ? Or are they from the DWP and would using them greatly increase chance of passing ?

Thanks so much, sorry for so many questions.

Thanks for your help.

My mum does sometimes use a walking stick but due to her arthritis she often can't because she has difficulty holding it. Is this worth adding to the "aids" part ? She didn't get it from the DWP/NRS. I heard they frown upon having aids that are not provided by the NRS (or similar) as they view you as not being ill enough. She only uses it from time to time.

My sister has occasionally helped my mum out with showering but she lives too far away for it to be a regular occurrence. My mum can shower herself but she finds it incredibly difficult and exhausting to do. If you can do a task yourself but would ideally need help, can you still get AA or do you have to physically not be able to complete it alone ?

Thanks.