Search results for ‘Subject term:"attendance allowance"’ Sort:
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'Independence allowance': developing a new vision for attendance allowance in England
- Authors:
- LLOYD James, STRATEGIC SOCIETY CENTRE, INDEPENDENT AGE
- Publishers:
- Strategic Society Centre, Independent Age
- Publication year:
- 2013
- Pagination:
- 64
- Place of publication:
- London
At a time of intense pressure on public spending, and tightening eligibility criteria in the English social care system, this report asks: what is Attendance Allowance (AA) and how does the AA system function currently; and what are the options for making more use of the AA system in a way that improves both the outcomes of recipients and value-for-money in public spending? Two pieces of research published alongside this report are used: 'Attendance allowance in England' (Strategic Society Centre); and 'Attendance Allowance on a low income' (Independent Age). The report suggests that AA needs to be reformed, and identifies three distinct approaches: data-sharing; information and advice; and, supporting ‘independence behaviours’. It concludes that AA payments "need to be framed in more positive, empowering terms" and should therefore "adopt a new name that reflects the changed aims and aspirations for disability payments to older people: Independence Allowance." (Edited publisher abstract)
Disability benefits for older people: how does the UK attendance allowance system really work?
- Author:
- PUDNEY Steve
- Publisher:
- University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 32p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Colchester
Attendance Allowance is a system of cash benefits available, in principle, to everyone over the age of 65 with substantial care needs arising from physical or mental impairment. Recommendations for the diversion of resources from cash benefits have been made in the Wanless report and the government Green Paper on social care. This report argues that, before a decision can be made on the future of Attendance Allowance, it is important to understand how the system works in terms of its actual delivery of benefit to people, rather than its stated rules and aims. This report uses data from the UK Family Resources Survey for the 3 years 2002/3 – 2004/5 to analyse data on the relationship between disability and receipt of the Attendance Allowance disability benefit by older people. Despite being non-means-tested, the findings show that Attendance Allowance is implicitly income-targeted and strongly targeted on those with care needs. The analysis focuses particularly on the receipt of higher-rate benefit, intended for those in need of day-and-night care. Although the rules would suggest that the odds of receiving higher-rate payment would depend only on the extent of care needs, the findings showed that, in practice, higher-rate payments are significantly negatively related to age and income. The allocation of higher-rate Attendance Allowance awards also strongly favours people with physical rather than cognitive disabilities.
Alarm over allowances
- Author:
- HUNTER Mark
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 17.9.09, 2009, pp.26-27.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
Government proposals in the green paper 'Shaping the future of care together' have presented a risk that the attendance allowance could be integrated into the general social care system. This article reports on the opposition from disability user groups who believe the attendance allowance should remain a separate non-means tested benefit. A short case study showing the benefits the allowance provided one woman with a visual impairment is included.
The impact of disability benefits: a feasibility study
- Author:
- BERTHOUD Richard
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 44p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
An introduction giving the background on the benefits designed to meet disabled people's extra costs is followed by an overview of Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, a chapter asking who benefits, and chapters on take-up, claims and adjudication; impacts on spending and outcomes; counterfactuals; data requirements; and the research plan. Information is given in tables and figures.
Review of international evidence on the cost of disability
- Authors:
- STAPLETON David, PROTIK Ali, STONE Christal
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 53p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Allowance programmes are a conceptually appealing way to help people with disabilities and their families pay for the goods and services that such individuals often need. This report examines how the international literature on the extra costs of disability could contribute to an assessment of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA) programmes in the UK The report presents rigorous evidence from a U.S. demonstration, that allowances can improve the lives of people with disabilities, relative to programmes that deliver agency services financed directly by the government. It also finds that, of all definitions of the extra cost of disability encountered in the literature, the 'expenditure equivalence' definition – the amount of additional income a person with a disability would require to achieve the same standard of living as a similar person without a disability - stands out as the most salient for assessing the adequacy of allowances. The report finds very little evidence from either programmes in other countries, or the research literature to support an assessment of allowance amounts in the UK programmes. A few studies, including a UK study, use the expenditure equivalence definition to demonstrate that the extra cost of disability can be very high, but their findings are not directly applicable to DLA and AA. The approach of these studies could potentially be applied to analysis of existing or new UK data in support of an assessment of the two programmes.
Streamlining the assessment of attendance allowance applications with social care assessment: an evaluation of two London pilots
- Author:
- HILTON John
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 32p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Under the auspices of the LinkAge Plus programme, the Department for Work and Pensions commissioned two London boroughs to pilot a joining up of the process of applying for Attendance Allowance with the assessment for social care support. 'Streamlined assessment' is based on the principle that customers should provide information only once to access more than one service and that there is scope to adopt a customer-centred approach to service provision. This evaluation looks at the experiences and learning from the pilots.
Impacts of AA and DLA on older people in Wales
- Author:
- LE WALES
- Publisher:
- Welsh Government
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Pagination:
- 74p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Cardiff
Despite a long history of provision of Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA), there has been little research into the role that these benefits play in meeting the needs of older people, or the impact the benefits have on the demand for social care and individuals’ ability to pay for personal care. This study draws on official data sources and on stakeholder consultations to review the current take‐up and use of income from two disability related benefits – Attendance Allowance (AA) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) – and explores links with the demand for social care. People in Wales aged over 65 who reported that they have physical and/or cognitive difficulties were about 15 times more likely than the rest of the older population to receive AA or DLA. However, around half of people with physical or cognitive difficulties did not receive AA or DLA. Barriers to take‐up that have been identified include a lack of awareness about benefits, an unwillingness to accept ‘disabled’ status and perceptions of arduous claims processes. The research uses this information to develop projections of the future demand for these payments under various policy scenarios, including the UK Coalition Government’s proposed reforms to DLA.
Attendance allowance and disability living allowance claimants in the older population: is there a difference in their economic circumstances?
- Authors:
- HANCOCK Ruth, MORCIANO Marcello, PUDNEY Stephen
- Publisher:
- Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 19p.
- Place of publication:
- Colchester
This report, on potential differences in the economic circumstances of older claimants in England of Attendance Allowance (AA, non-means tested cash benefit claimable over-65) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA, non-means tested cash benefit claimable only under 65 but receipt of which can be continued after 65), is from the Institute for Social and Economic Research Working Papers series. It consists of a non-technical summary, introduction, and sections detailing ‘Family Resources Survey’ data between 2002 and 2005, ‘DLA and work histories in the working age population’, ‘the composition of the over-65 population’, and work histories, and incomes of AA and DLA recipients in the older population. “No evidence of greater income deprivation among DLA than AA recipients in terms of equivalised pre-benefit family income” was found. The governments’ perception of greater income deprivation among DLA compared with AA claimants, due to their earlier age of onset of disability and thus impaired earnings in earlier life, which had led to recent benefit reform proposals which would treat “recipients of AA less favourably than the recipients of DLA” is questioned, as is the validity of the proposed changes. Both AA and DLA claimant groups had substantially lower levels of average pre-benefit income than the older population in general.
Attendance allowance and local government: examining the evidence and the options
- Author:
- LLOYD James
- Publisher:
- Strategic Society Centre
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 36
- Place of publication:
- London
Explores the government’s proposal to transfer Attendance Allowance (AA) from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to local authorities, as part of its plans to reform local government financing and give councils new spending responsibilities. It describes the operation of the AA system, its recipients and take-up and compares the AA and adult social care systems in England. It then examines evidence on the costs of living with a disability for older people and to what extent the AA and social care system meets these additional costs. The final chapter identifies and evaluates options for the government in transferring AA to local government in England and Wales. Options examined are: transfer AA spending to the local authority adult social care system; administration of AA system by local authorities; and a new universal, disability-related cash payment for older people paid by local authorities. The report concludes with key messages for policy makers and social care stakeholders. These include the importance of understanding the population group that receives AA - who are typically older, poorer, live alone, and with substantial levels of disability - and a recognition of potential additional costs for local authorities following any transfer due to the likelihood of increased demand for adult social care. (Edited publisher abstract)
Older people's participation in disability benefits: targeting, timing and financial wellbeing
- Author:
- ZANTOMIO Francesca
- Publisher:
- Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 44p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Colchester
This report on the targeting, timing and financial wellbeing associated with older people’s participation in UK disability benefits is from the Institute for Social and Economic Research Working Paper series. Comprised of a non-technical summary, introduction, and sections entitled, ‘claiming and receiving Attendance Allowance’ (AA), ‘the British Household Panel Survey data’ (BHPS), ‘ empirical analysis of receipt: targeting and timing’, ‘the impact of AA’ and ‘conclusions’, statistical analyses, relating to 17 waves of data, on the same people over time, are presented. The effectiveness of AA in practice is assessed by measuring, firstly, how responsive benefit receipt is to changes to disability status, secondly, the delays to first receipt and thirdly by comparing later outcomes of those who were, or were not, entered onto the program. Findings showed that “entry is highly responsive to previous changes in disability, and that the program enhances persistently recipients’ financial wellbeing.” But, receipt suffered “considerable delays” - up to 4 years. Also, “evidence of characteristics unrelated to eligibility influencing the assignment mechanism”, such as other people familiar with the benefits system in the household, suggests that the AA cash support system of could be improved for those without such help.