Applying for Attendance Allowance

Hi, I would like some advice regarding filling in application for Attendance Allowance for Parkinson's for my Mum. Any help would be much appreciated. Mum is 71 yrs old and was diagnosed with Parkinson's 4-5 yrs ago but had symptoms for many years prior to that. She also has quite bad Osteoporosis - her spine is crumbling and she has twisted pelvis and spine - so has a lot of pain. For the past 2-3 years her Parkinson's has deteriorated and she needs a lot of supervision and help with basic things. She has never claimed any benefits before and has taken a lot of persuasion to even agree to apply for AA. She us very anxious about even applying but I am going to fill in form for her. Mum is not aware she has problems with eg. her mood, her thinking, feeling down, anxious, concentration, she gets forgetful, has times needs prompted to do things, also she withdraws a lot from going out or seeing friends etc.. I would like advice please too how I can get these things into form as she does not realise she has these symptoms, she does not seem to be aware of how bad she has actually got. Many thanks in advance. 

Age UK are very good at this, they did my mum's and she got the higher rate first time.  They should be able to go to her home, but you would need to be there to explain the difficulties she had, From what you say she should be entitled to the higher rate.

Its worth noting that Attendance Allowance can open the door to other benefits such as Pension Credit and Housing / Council Tax Benefit, as a person is allowed to have a higher amount of income or savings if receiving AA. My mum just fell outside the criteria for Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, but after getting AA, she got Pension Credit, Housing and Council Tax benefit.  It made such a difference,  just wish she had applied earlier. 

Hi Gizmotabbycat, Bluebarb,

You may be aware that the Government has announced plans to devolve Attendance Allowance to local authorities in future. This will not impact you if you or a relative currently receives it, so don't worry!

We're expecting the consultation really soon, so I'm keen to hear your experience of claiming Attendance Allowance, and what it means to you and your family and what it would mean if you lost it?

Obviously this would all be kept strictly anonymous.

Any thoughts, either here on the forum or sent to me directly at [email protected] would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Phil

The original poster asked for advice on 09/2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!