DWP urges state pensioners to check whether they could get £92 a week

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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is reminding state pensioners with a physical or mental health condition to check whether they are eligible for Attendance Allowance worth up to £92.40 every week or £4,804 over the course of the year. New claimants could also qualify for the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment which will be paid in the summer to help households with the rising cost of living.

Approximately £15billion is unclaimed in benefits in the UK every year as millions of Britons, including pensioners, miss out on vital financial support.

Earlier this week, Labour MP Stephen Kinnock asked DWP what steps it is taking to “ensure those eligible for Attendance Allowance are receiving it”.

The Daily Record reports that Pensions Minister Laura Trott MP, said: “Information on the availability of Attendance Allowance is already widely available, including online on GOV.UK; from places such as Libraries and Doctors Surgeries; directly from Health Care Professionals who might be supporting those with care needs; and from a range of groups and charities who provide advice and support to elderly people with care needs.

Attendance Allowance is designed to help with extra costs associated with a physical or mental disability but people do not need to have a carer to make a claim.

Britons should apply for Attendance Allowance if they need help or supervision throughout the day or night – even if they don’t currently get that help.

Attendance Allowance isn’t just for people with a physical disability or illness, people with a mental health condition, learning difficulties or who are deaf or visually impaired can also apply.

In total there are 57 illnesses the DWP lists as potentially qualifying for Attendance Allowance, though illnesses and conditions not on the list may also be eligible.

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At least 56 health conditions qualify for Attendance Allowance:

  • Arthritis
  • Spondylosis
  • Back Pain – Other / Precise Diagnosis not Specified
  • Disease of The Muscles, Bones or Joints
  • Trauma to Limbs
  • Blindness
  • Deafness
  • Heart disease
  • Chest disease
  • Asthma
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Cerebrovascular Disease
  • Peripheral vascular Disease
  • Epilepsy
  • Neurological Diseases
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Parkinson’s Disease
  • Motor Neurone Disease
  • Chronic Pain Syndromes
  • Diabetes Mellitus
  • Metabolic Disease
  • Traumatic Paraplegia/Tetraplegia
  • Major Trauma Other than Traumatic Paraplegia/Tetraplegia
  • Learning Difficulties
  • Psychosis
  • Psychoneurosis
  • Personality Disorder
  • Dementia
  • Behavioural Disorder
  • Alcohol and Drug Abuse
  • Hyperkinetic syndrome
  • Renal Disorders
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Bowel and Stomach Disease
  • Blood Disorders
  • Haemophilia
  • Multi System Disorders
  • Multiple Allergy SyndromeSkin Disease
  • Malignant Disease
  • Severely Mentally impaired
  • Double Amputee
  • Deaf/Blind
  • Haemodialysis
  • Frailty
  • Total Parenteral Nutrition
  • AIDS
  • Infectious diseases: Viral disease – Coronavirus covid-19
  • Infectious diseases: Viral disease – precise diagnosis not specified
  • Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – Tuberculosis
  • Infectious diseases: Bacterial disease – precise diagnosis not specified
  • Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – Malaria
  • Infectious diseases: Protozoal disease – other / precise diagnosis not specified
  • Infectious diseases – other / precise diagnosis not specified
  • Cognitive disorder – other / precise diagnosis not specified
  • Terminally Ill.

Thousands of pensioners are also missing out on Pension Credit – which tops up the state pension for older people earning less than a certain amount.

A pensioner couple in their 80s discovered they were owed £160 a week in Pension Credit after a quick five-minute check.

Benefits expert Paul Breeden told Express.co.uk: “Tom, 88, and Valerie, 82, contacted us as they thought they might be missing out of benefits. We did a check and found they could be missing an extra £160 a week Pension Credit.

“It took just five minutes to check for them. No one was going to tell them, they had no one to ask until they asked us.”

Claiming Pension Credit could also lead to further ‘freebie’ benefits such as housing benefit, support for mortgage interest, a council tax discount and a free TV licence for someone who is 75 or over.

There is a benefits calculator on GOV.UK, or people can ask Benefit Answers for help people checking what they’re entitled to. All benefits including Universal Credit, PIP and Pension Credit are rising in April 2023 to keep up with inflation.

The new Pension Credit rates from April 2023 will be:

  • Single person – from £182.60 to £201.05
  • Couple – from £278.70 to £306.85.

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