Tag Archives: attendance allowance
Protecting older people with a disability from living in poverty
New research on attendance allowance says more should be done to support those receiving the benefit
Attendance allowance (AA) is a weekly cash payment to older people with disabilities by the Department for Work and Pensions, worth between £59 and £73. It is a contribution to the extra costs of living with a disability and rarely, if ever, receives any discussion in policy debate. This is odd given the scale of the AA – it is paid to around 1.5 million older people in the UK at a cost of around £5bn each year.
To bolster the evidence base on AA and explore how we can make better use of it, the Strategic Society Centre and Independent Age recently published some new research and policy analysis.
Analysing data from the government-funded English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we found that most people receiving AA are female and aged over 80. The most common difficulties with activities of daily living experienced by recipients are dressing (including putting on socks and shoes) and bathing or showering. Over half are unable to do work around the home and more than 40% have difficulty shopping for groceries.
