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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.
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.
Disability benefits and paying for care
- Authors:
- BERTHOUD Richard, HANCOCK Ruth
- Publisher:
- University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 15p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Colchester
The Attendance Allowance (AA) and the Disability Living Allowance care component (DLAc) are paid to elderly and/or disabled people who need help with activities of daily living Together, these benefits cost £9.2 billion per year Since the need for care is the main criterion entitling people to claim, one important question is whether they receive (enough) care. The Wanless review recommended integrating support for care costs from these disability benefits into the care system to improve targeting of resources. This paper discusses the impact of AA/DLAc on the well-being of disabled adults, and assesses the likely advantages, and disadvantages, of a possible reallocation of resources.
Disability and poverty in later life
- Authors:
- HANCOCK Ruth, MORCIANO Marcello, PUDNEY Stephen
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Publication year:
- 2016
- Pagination:
- 44
- Place of publication:
- London
This report explores the relationship between disability and poverty among the older population. It provides an overview of the current system of disability support for older people which involves both nationally-administered disability benefits of Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance, and local systems of social care provision. It then looks at measuring poverty, emphasising the additional living costs that disabled people face, and the importance of taking disability costs into account when making assessments. The report considers three scenarios for the system of public support within the existing level of government spending which involve changes to levels of mean-testing and reach of support. It casts doubt on some of the suggestions that have been made for improving the targeting of public support for older disabled people. The report concludes that: effective targeting does not necessarily require an extension of means-testing; the present benefit and social care system is reasonably well-targeted, but falls far short of full support for the most severely disabled; there is a case for tailoring the structure of disability benefits more closely to the severity of disability; and there is a need for caution in considering proposals that would scrap national disability benefits in favour of an expansion of local authority social care funding. (Edited publisher abstract)
Pension, Disability and Carers Service annual report of quarterly satisfaction monitor 2009/10
- Authors:
- HOWAT Nick, NORDEN Oliver, GARBETT Erica
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Pagination:
- 90p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The Pension, Disability and Carers Service (PDCS) is an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions, and is responsible for delivering a range of age and disability related benefits. A customer survey was launched to monitor satisfaction with the service and to ensure that customer views were taken into account in operational and policy planning. This report presents the findings from the first year of the customer survey, which reflects information gathered in telephone interviews with customers who had contact with the service in the previous 6 months. It describes the methodology used and reports on findings for the PDCS as a whole, the experiences of Pension Service customers, the experiences of Disability and Carers Service customers, and an overview of customer characteristics. One of the key performance measures was overall customer satisfaction with the service, and the survey found that 92% were satisfied with PDCS as a whole in 2009/10.
Participation in disability benefit programmes: a partial identification analysis of the British Attendance Allowance system
- Author:
- PUDNEY Stephen
- Publisher:
- University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 40p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Colchester
In the UK, state support for older people with disabilities comes in two forms: means tested help with the costs of specific care services arranged by local authorities and non-means tested cash benefits, which include the system of Attendance Allowance (AA). This study examines the workings of the AA system with the aim of understanding better the problems of targeting raised by the failure of some disabled pensioners to bring forward potentially successful AA claims. The empirical analysis combines household-level survey data on family circumstances, disability and receipt of AA with aggregate administrative data on the average success rate for AA claims, to analyse the factors influencing individuals' probabilities of claiming and their chances of success. There are two main findings: the probability of an individual pensioner making a claim for AA appears to rise strongly with his or her degree of disability, irrespective of personal and household circumstances. Second, there is evidence of a substantial volume (possibly 30% or more of the over-65 household population) of unpursued but potentially successful AA claims.