Attendance Allowance rejected

[RememberDecember]

Found out today that mum’s application for AA has been rejected. She has early stage dementia. I was hoping to use it to pay for a carer to come in to help but will have to have a rethink. I’m not sure if there is any point trying to reapply at a later stage, unless things decline substantially. Have others reapplied successfully?

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 phoned and raised Mandatory Reconsideration. They ran through some of the reasons it was rejected - only diagnosed as mild dementia, falls haven’t resulted in any serious injuries, only goes out socially once a week, can be left for 5hrs at a time so doesn’t require constant supervision. This last part is true, but it isn’t like she can achieve much in that time.

They said to send a letter with any extra information to add to claim. Eg locked out of house.

I will do the letter but I am wishing I had gone to CAB or similar to fill out the form, there definitely seem to be specific things they are looking for within those 30 odd pages.

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

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.

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

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,

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

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.

@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.

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.

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.

I had a call today re the AA and if I wanted to challenge the decision. Given all of it and the fact I was driving at the time, I have decided to shelve it for now and reapply at some point in future. I will ask CAB or similar for help in completing it rather than me cocking it up like this time!

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.

Honestly, I have had enough of it for now, will revisit in future once I have sorted out some sort of appropriate care.

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”.

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.

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.

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.