The Benefits and Work guide to claiming attendance allowance (AA) has been fully updated with new example answers covering a wide range of conditions.
AA remains an important benefit for older claimants, with 1.7 millions claims in payment at August 2025, the most recent figure available from the DWP. Claim numbers have not seen the same level of increase as personal independence payment, but there has been a significant rise in the last three years of statistics, from 1.4 million in August 2022.
The guide provides lots of sample answers, using our four-step system for giving evidence about how your condition affects you. The system allows you to structure evidence about your own life to give concise but detailed and accurate information.
For example, there is a sample answer for “Taking medicines and medical treatment” for claimants with Parkinson’s disease:
(1) Due to having Parkinson’s I have experienced speech and voice changes, and I have been given vocal exercises by the Speech and Language Therapy team. (2) I find these difficult to do on my own, as I can become unsure if I am saying the words correctly or if I can be heard properly. (3) For example, when I first started doing the exercises on my own, I would become agitated and anxious if I was unsure if they were correct. (4) My husband supports me to do the exercises, provides feedback, repeats the instructions for me if I am unsure and helps me with pronunciation when needed.
Issues with “Communicating with other people” for a claimant with multiple sclerosis are also covered:
(1) One of the symptoms of my MS is auditory processing disorder where my brain struggles to process what I have heard. (2) I can physically hear what is being said but my brain struggles to pick out the differences between similar words and it can take me a while to process what’s been said. (3) When I have a conversation, I often muddle similar-sounding words, and I can become quite embarrassed because I can misunderstand the point of what has been said. I can also be slow to respond, and I worry this can come across as rude to people who don’t know me. (4) My family come to meetings and appointments with me to help break down the information into language I can process more easily. They reassure me when I become anxious and they help me to formulate my replies.
Other examples include conditions such as:
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Dementia
- Arthritis
- Stroke
- Osteoporosis
- Visual impairment
- Fibromyalgia
- Seizures
- Depression
- Night terrors
- Falls
Many thanks to welfare rights specialist Keely Gabriel for her work on updating the guide.
Members can download the updated AA claims guide from the AA/DLA Guides page
