We opened the first of our new residential care homes for older people this spring 
Annual report 2006/2007 Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance
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These are benefits for people who have mobility difficulties and/or personal care needs. They are not means tested and you can claim them on top of other benefits you receive.
Disability Living Allowance is for people who first claim before their 65th birthday.
Attendance Allowance is for people who make their first claim on or after their 65th birthday. Attendance Allowance does not contain an element for Mobility - this is only for under 65's.
Each benefit has separate rates of payment depending on the severity of your needs:
Disability Living Allowance (Care Component)
High £64.50
Middle £43.15
Low £17.10
Disability Living Allowance (Mobility Component)
High £45.00
Low £17.10
Attendance Allowance
Low £43.15
Care
To qualify for the care component you must either:
- receive assistance from someone to complete care tasks, or
- do it yourself but with difficulty, or
- you need supervised while doing the task to keep you safe.
Care needs are things like dressing and undressing: rising from your bed, chair or toilet; taking medication or receiving therapy; bathing/ showering, drying; toileting.
The different rates for the care component depend on the amount of help you need.
High care is for people who need help both day and night.
Middle care is for those who only need help during the day or night.
Low care is for those who only need help for a short period during the day. It is also for those aged 16-65 who need help with cooking a main meal.
Domestic tasks, for example, hoovering, ironing and gardening are excluded.
You do not need to have someone providing you with assistance- you only need to show that you should have someone to help you.
If you do have assistance from a friend or family member for at least 35 hours per week they may be able to claim Carers Allowance. It is not always beneficial for either you or your carer to claim this benefit; please ask us for advice before proceeding.
Mobility
To qualify for the mobility component you must not be able to walk at all or you can only walk short distances before having to stop, for example, due to pain, breathlessness. It is also for people with a severe learning disability who are very unpredictable or for those who need someone with them outdoors.
The different rates of the mobility component depend on how and why your mobility is restricted.
- High rate Mobility is for those with a physical disability who have difficulty walking or have a severe learning and behavioural disability (in certain cases).
- Low rate Mobility is for those who can walk but need to be guided or supervised in a place they do not know.
Going into hospital or a care home
Your Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance Care and Mobility components stop after 4 weeks in hospital (12 weeks, for a child under 16).
Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance Care component also stop after 4 weeks if you go into care and get help with the fees from the Local Authority (you can keep any Mobility Component of DLA).
Losing these benefits may have a knock-on effect on other benefits, for example, Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit ,so these other bodies should be informed after 4 weeks.
If you require further information on these or any other benefit, you can contact us by coming in to your local Advice Works office or by sending us an e-mail to adviceworks@renfrewshire.gov.uk.
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