Attendance Allowance Review and Change of Circumstances: What to Report and When

An Attendance Allowance award is not permanently locked. Your care needs change, your living situation shifts, or your fixed-period award approaches its end date — and DWP expects to hear about it. Missing a report can mean overpayments you have to repay or underpayments you never received.

What Counts as a Change of Circumstances

DWP requires you to report anything that affects your care needs or living arrangements. The main triggers:

• Hospital admission — Attendance Allowance stops after 28 consecutive days of free NHS inpatient treatment. If you are readmitted within 28 days of discharge, the two stays link together and the count continues from the first admission.
• Moving into a care home — if a local authority funds or part-funds your place, payments stop after 28 days. Self-funders paying the full fee privately keep their award.
• Moving to Scotland — Attendance Allowance closes and you need to claim Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP) from Social Security Scotland. Your AA stops 13 weeks after the move.
• Care needs worsening — if you currently receive the lower rate (£76.70 per week in 2026/27) and your needs have expanded into both day and night, you can ask DWP to look at your award again. A successful supersession moves you to the higher rate (£114.60 per week).
• Care needs improving — this cuts both ways. If the condition that qualified you has improved substantially, DWP may reduce or end the award on review.
• Going abroad — tell DWP if you plan to be abroad for more than four weeks. Attendance Allowance can usually continue for up to 13 weeks abroad, or 26 weeks if you are receiving medical treatment. You may also be able to keep getting it if you permanently move to the EU, EEA, or Switzerland and meet the qualifying conditions.

How to Report a Change

Phone the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 (Relay UK: 18001 then 0800 731 0122). In Northern Ireland, contact the Disability and Carers Service on 0800 587 0912. You can also write to Freepost DWP Attendance Allowance.

Report as soon as the change happens. There is no grace period — DWP can recover overpayments from the date the change took effect, not the date you told them.

Fixed-Period Awards and Renewal

Some awards are time-limited. DWP sends a renewal form (AA1A) roughly 20 weeks before your award expires. Fill it in the same way you completed the original AA1 — describe your current care needs, not what they were when you first claimed. If your needs have worsened since the original claim, say so clearly with updated evidence.

If you do not return the renewal form before the award end date, your payments stop. There is no automatic extension.

Requesting a Supersession for Worsening Needs

If your needs change between reviews — for instance, you now need help during the night as well as the day — you do not have to wait for a renewal form. Contact DWP and ask for a supersession based on a change of circumstances. Provide:

• A description of how your needs have changed
• Updated medical evidence if you have it (a GP letter, hospital discharge summary, or occupational therapy assessment)
• Your current care routine for both day and night

A supersession can increase, decrease, or end your award. If DWP decides your needs have reduced, they can lower your rate from the date of the change — so only request a supersession when you genuinely believe your needs have increased.

What Happens if You Do Not Report

Failing to report a change that reduces your entitlement creates an overpayment. DWP recovers overpayments by deducting from future benefit payments or issuing an invoice. In serious cases, they can pursue fraud proceedings.

Failing to report a change that increases your entitlement can mean you miss out on money. If you tell DWP within one month after the qualifying period for a higher rate ends, or within a longer period DWP allows, the increase can take effect from the day after that period ends. Otherwise, it usually takes effect from the date DWP receives your supersession request.

Getting Help

Free support with reporting changes and renewals is available from Citizens Advice, your local Age UK branch, or welfare rights services run by your council. Our Attendance Allowance Claim Guide includes a Decision Notice Tracker worksheet that helps you log award dates, renewal deadlines, and the changes you need to report — so nothing falls through the cracks during a busy period of care.

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