Are attendance allowance forms as tricky as DLA and PIP?

[HatFamster]

I’m helping my mother to fill in her form.
I’ve completed DLA and PIP forms for my children, and just wondered if this needs the same excruciating attention to detail?

She had a stroke a few months ago - is it important to get her dr’s notes copied to include, or will they contact her GP?

Sorry !
I seem to have over invested myself in your thread ☺️!

I help people with a lot of these forms and find AA so much easier to get awarded ! There is no assessment. I would complete the form, send in any hospital letters and a patient summary form the GP surgery, prescription list, details of any physio? OT input etc. I have found with a few applicants who have had strokes that they tend to take ages and may require more evidence as there is good scope for people to improve in the months following a stroke. Either that or there will be another review after perhaps a year.

It is always best to include the medical evidence yourself - don't rely on them contacting the GP. It will delay things and a lot of GP's are slow to provide information as they don't see it as a priority.

AA is to help with personal care only. Make it simpler for yourself. Do not to mention problems with cooking, housework, shopping, mobility outside. The Decision Maker will ignore it. Concentrate on describing the way in which they get in and out of bed, wash, shower etc. all the sections which are on the application form. It’s much easier than claiming DLA/PiP. Good luck.

She improved dramatically in the first 5-6 weeks, then it slowed down.
She is still improving, but not in a way that would allow her to cook a meal.
Is it worth saying this?

It’s fine, it feels like solidarity!

They don't consider whether she can cook a meal, just whether she can feed herself and difficulties with personal care.

So far I’ve answered all the care questions, so things like she needs meals cutting up, she needs help to get comfortable in bed, has all sorts of equipment and handles everywhere.

I’ve written a statement for it, where I’ve said about cooking etc, but I’ll ad more in about personal care needs.

Ok, so will never be able to cut up her own food kind of things?
Will never walk properly.
Will need people with her more for her own safety.
That kind of thing?

It's always good to talk about any supervision she needs, so if she is at risk of falls etc and needs supervision around the home or even someone listening out for her when showering if she's at risk.

That’s great, I hadn’t thought of that. Thank you!

I've just completed this and sent it off for my Dad I said we were completely fine with them contacting his gp but also included recent list of medication, hospital scan results (osteoporosis with 3 fractured vertebrae), wheelchair assessment forms, recent hospital letters re further scans and assessments. I'd read that over 80% of applications are refused so I threw everything in it. It seems from some pp above the threshold isn't as high as my reading had lead me to believe. Best of luck OP.

I really don't think 80% of Attendance Allowance claims are refused. This is certainly not my experience anyway. I have helped with over 250 of them over the past year and I would say no more than 10 declined. Obviously I don't know what percentage of people who complete them themselves get awarded. maybe those stats are for PIP or all disability benefits?

HatFamster. This may have been mentioned but supervision carries a lot of weight. As does difficulties getting out of a chair, maybe standing fir a short time to feel steady. And any trips/falls.

Ok, I think we’ve got this covered.
My father can go shopping (1 hour at most) and that’s it. It’s too much to leave her for any longer.
She wears an alarm necklace at all times for this reason.
She can very slowly walk about 5 metres, but if tired she needs a stick or frame. She can’t stand up for any long periods of time. She’s had falls, but none recently as she’s very careful to not do the things that made her fall (walking without concentrating 100% on what she’s doing - you can’t talk or distract her at all if she’s on the move!).
My father isn’t great health-wise either, but does the best he can.

Could he claim carers if she’s awarded AA?

She can’t really stand for any period of time unless she’s holding onto something.

HatFamster. Don’t bother mentioning how far she can walk outside. It’s more important to say how she moves around indoors e.g. holds on to furniture and walls to prevent falling. But do say about your dad not being able to leave her. Does he have charge of her medication, ordering, reminding. Once AA is awarded Carers Allowance can be claimed. However if your dad is over state pension age he will not receive it. But if they are Pension Credit he should claim. They will turn him down but there is extra Carers Premium added to Pension Credit. If they’re not on PC already, this premium could bring them into the range.

Yes, that’s what I understand. So if a carer can put them to bed and they’re fine till morning, day rate, but they if they need someone to-be there because they’ll try to get up and then fall, night rate.

Once AA is awarded Carers Allowance can be claimed. However if your dad is over state pension age he will not receive it. Strictly, it’s that Carer’s Allowance and State Pension can’t both be paid, and since State Pension is more, you wouldn’t swap it for Carer’s Allowance. But for some who is for some reason not getting a full State Pension, it might be worth looking at Carer’s Allowance. In practice I can’t see this happening but thought I’d mention it.

@HatFamster Needing support when standing would knock on to things like needing assistance for washing hair. In practical terms, would a perching stool be useful?

Thank you for this. They are both pensioners, I’ll talk to them about it today.

I don’t know if they get state pension, I’ll ask today.

Since the stroke my mother has had to have a shower installed as she couldn’t properly wash - it has a seat built into it and handles all over so she doesn’t fall.

She can sometimes walk about 5m very slowly and unsteadily, and she has to 100% concentrate on what she’s doing.

It hasn’t been my experience with the higher rate.

I applied for AA for my mum about 4 months ago and was very honest on the form. My DM doesn’t need anyone to put her to bed but does have to use a frame to get out of bed at night to go to the toilet and had to have pillows positioned under her hip otherwise she can’t sleep as her hip aches so much. She does wear pads at night due to leakage but can change herself. We recently had to completely redo her bathroom to put in a walk-in shower and comfort high toilet with lots of handrails everywhere as she had had a fall last August which resulted in a broken hip. Her memory is also poor now so I sort all her meds, appointments, finances etc. She eats with us virtually every evening unless I am going out (DM helpfully lives next door).

I was amazed when she was awarded the higher rate and was going to phone up and query it but after speaking to someone on this forum who had a lot of experience with AA claims and re-reading the application form to see if anything I wrote could be ambiguous I decided to leave it. DM has used most of her savings re-doing her bathroom and putting in a stairlift so the extra money is a godsend so she can pay for a cleaner etc which takes some of the load off me. DH and I both work full time so it is such a help for us too and she gets to stay in her own home with family close by.

I've just sent one off. I didn't realise mobility outdoors doesn't count. My DGM cannot mobilise independently outdoors due to sight loss so I put a lot of info about that. She can't go anywhere alone.
It isn't so bad indoors because it's familiar and one level with fewer hazards. With they really not look at it?

There is the section on activities outside of the home, so if the person like shopping or going to the park but cannot safely go alone and needs someone with them to supervise or guide, you can explain that in that section.