Paying for help with cleaning at home: Attendance Allowance and other support

Attendance Allowance

Attendance Allowance is a weekly benefit from the Department for Work and Pensions for people over State Pension age whose illness or disability means they need help looking after themselves, or someone to keep an eye on them for their safety.

• It isn't means-tested, so your income and savings don't affect it.
• You don't need a carer to claim. It is about the help you need, not the help you already get.
• You choose how to spend it. It doesn't have to go on care, and you can put it towards jobs you can no longer do easily, such as the cleaning.
• Getting it can mean extra Pension Credit, Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction.
• It doesn't cover mobility. It is for help looking after yourself, not for getting about.

Who can claim

You can usually claim if you've reached State Pension age and:

• you have a physical disability (including sight or hearing loss), a mental disability (including dementia or learning difficulties) or a health condition
• it is severe enough that you need help caring for yourself, or someone to supervise you for your own or someone else's safety
• you have needed that help for at least 6 months

You don't need a diagnosis. The claim is about what you find hard day to day: washing, dressing, eating, using the toilet, taking medication, or being safe on your own. People nearing the end of life have different rules, and may get it more quickly and at the higher rate.

You can't usually get it if you live in a care home paid for by the council, or if you already get Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment.

How to claim

1. 1

   Get the form

   Apply online on GOV.UK, or call the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 for a claim form (AA1); a claim made this way can start from the date you called. In Northern Ireland, you claim through nidirect.

2. 2

   Describe a bad day

   Write about what happens on your worst days, not your best ones, and give examples: a fall, a missed meal, needing help in the night.

3. 3

   Ask for help with the form

   Independent Age and Age UK both have free advice on claiming, and a relative or friend can fill it in with you. If someone holds power of attorney, they can claim for you.

4. 4

   Check the other benefits

   Once it is awarded, ask whether you can now get Pension Credit, or more of it, and Council Tax Reduction.

Help from your council

In England and Wales, you can ask your council's social services for a needs assessment, to find out what help and support you need. GOV.UK lists home care help with things like cleaning and shopping among the services that can follow from one. Citizens Advice, a charity or your local NHS service can help you apply.

If social services assess you as needing care and support, you can apply for direct payments: money to choose and buy the services you need yourself, instead of getting them from the council. Ask your council whether a direct payment can go towards cleaning, and what receipts they want.

Cleaning, not care

cleand provides cleaning. Our cleaners don't help with washing, dressing, medication or anything else that counts as personal care, and they aren't there to look after anyone. If that kind of help is needed, it has to come from a care agency, the council or family.

What we can do is take the housework off someone's hands: the kitchen, the bathroom, the floors and the dusting, on a schedule you choose: weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Every cleaner passes a background (DBS) check and is approved by cleand, and every clean is covered by cleand's insurance.

A fortnightly visit to a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home is 2.5 hours and costs £53, including VAT. Weekly visits cost £50.50 each.

Booking for a parent or relative

You can book online for someone else, with your own email and card and your relative's address. In the booking form:

• Choose "Someone else will let the cleaner in" and give your relative's name and phone number, so the cleaner knows who to expect.
• In the notes, say anything the cleaner should know: that your relative is hard of hearing, slow to the door, or prefers the cleaner to ring before arriving.
• Every booking comes with an emailed confirmation, and your account keeps an invoice for each payment if a council or relative needs a receipt.

If your relative would rather talk to someone, they can call us on 0330 190 0487 for a price or to leave a message, and we'll call back.