Attendance Allowance rejected

You can fill it out based on worst days but it also asks how many days this applies to so you must explain if what they can and can't do fluctuates.

A work colleague applied for her mother and got rejected. She then got the social worker to help her apply and then got accepted. When applying for my mum I enlisted the help of the social worker and it was accepted. Do remember that you need to fill it out using her worst days. OK she might be OK on some days but others very much not OK.

She's helping you out here, OP!!

She's telling you that because you've written your mum can be left alone for 5 hours she doesn't qualify.

What you need to do is change that. Your mother obviously can't be left for five hours if she's locking herself out in those five hours and forgetting medication. The fact that she IS left is irrelevant.

The lady reiterated that the primary reason it was rejected is that mum doesn’t require ‘continuous care’ and can be left for over 5hrs during the day. The fact she might get lost,lock herself out or forget medication doesn’t seem to count for anything. She’s telling you how to appeal! It’s not that those things “don’t count”, it’s that they don’t come out clearly enough in your application.

If you don’t appeal, use the time between now and your next appeal to collect “evidence” - date and time of every getting-lost event or near miss, every time she locks herself out. You don’t necessarily have to list it all, but it will give you the basis for firm numbers, which are taken more seriously than “sometimes” or “often”.

I filled in my Mum's application and it was rejected. I then spoke to Citizen's Advice who were brilliant. They completed the from and it was then granted at the full rate.

It’s pointless appealing if the form hasn’t been filled in properly. They will just use the form as evidence that she doesn’t need help. Same with mandatory reconsideration.

@Bignanna , my aunt should have the home help more regularly, but even though she is receiving the allowance, she is still scared to spend any money.

Her homehelp is £22 per hour and she is very pleased with what he does for her. My late Mum was my aunt's older, bossy sister - my aunt almost deliberately ignores my advice, I have no sway with her.

I live at a distance and have just helped her extend her lease with her neighbour, the freeholder, it has been a horrible experience for me with her saying things like 'it's making me ill', "I'm an old lady and you might understand one day". She didn't go to school because of childhood illness, my Mum was bossy because she loved her and wanted to protect her, she is naive.

If you fill it out again, make sure you go through everything step by step that she would do in the course of the day, emphasising where she has difficulty.

If it helps, try to think about what she is like on her worst day - not her best day or even an average day. That’s what I did with my MIL, who was convinced she wouldn’t be awarded it despite what I felt were fairly significant mobility issues, lots of medication to function even in a basic way, and a number of personal care challenges such as incontinence. It feels dispiriting but I wrote a lot of it as “has difficulty with”, “is unable to”, “needs X, Y and Z in order to do….”, and that worked in her case.

Just to reiterate what pp have said: you don’t need reduced mobility to qualify.

Again a lot of older people are at risk of falling whether or not they have dementia This would not be a reason for AA. Get advice,

I guess you could say that previously her problems were minimised but in reality they are worse? Add things like interactions as well. For example with a form I did I said they didn't fall that much but because of the combination of osteoporosis and sight problems it was a high risk if they did as they had broken a bone in the past. Things like that

I don't think locked out once or twice will make a big difference. You need to think of daily things she can't manage very easily. Or forgetting once or twice to take medication. I think you should get advice from CAB before contacting them again and writing a letter.

People with far fewer problems get this allowance! It shouldn’t be like a lottery, depending on how clever someone is at filling forms!

People don't even need to have a carer to qualify. they just need to have difficulties with personal care several times a day or night or both.

I would say she does qualify. The forms are deliberately made difficult and you really do need to know how to fill in the important information and you must provide copies of prescriptions and hospital letters.
I would include copies of the lock smith invoices too, along with an explanation that she cannot go shopping alone because she gets lost and locks herself out.
You need to copy her Px and explain that she needs supervision to take the correct medication at the right time.
I did the forms for my parents and PIL about 20 years ago. It took me several hours to gather all the evidential paperwork, copy it all and fill everything in.

I was about to say exactly this.

Both organisations are skilled at understanding what the assessors are looking for and what the true needs are. And if they come and help you reapply at home they might see things that you see every day and don't realise is an issue. For example- if a question asks 'can you rise from your seat unaided' your parent might say 'yes' but CAB or AgeUk watch her do it and see that it takes 3 minutes and the person needs to lean on things in order to get into a standing position. Or that someone needs to hold onto furniture to get across the room. And so forth.

Our local AgeUk now has to charge for assistance as they lost LA funding to complete the forms. But the cost is fairly negligible when you consider that they have been helping people with these forms for years and will have a really good understanding of what someone's true needs are. It is also often the case that family members fill out the forms thinking of someone's 'best days' rather than their worst days.

AA isn't awarded for mobility. So anything about that isn't considered.

However, general confusion, which makes it slower for your mum to wash, dress, cook, etc - yes, that's considered.

And do ask for the MR. You can't appeal without having the MR.
They'll give you some latitude in requesting one a little late. Do phone them today.

Great advice on filling these in on this site, OP.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk

Remember that the DWP are only interested in what you can't do, not what you can, and if it takes you longer than normal to do it, you should get points. There's an art to filling the forms in.

One thing to remember is it is about the help you need, not what you actually have. Lots of people living on their own get it, and they don’t have anyone to help them.

How does your aunt manage with only help once a fortnight?

They’re not interested in how cleaning, gardening etc is managed

Yes, this. The fact your DM can’t take care of her own admin and you’re doing it for her is evidence of need.