Attendance Allowance & DWP

[Bearz77]

I am just wondering what happens at a DWP home visit if anyone has any experience? I tried to set up Age UK helping my dad (her carer) fill in Attendance Allowance forms for my mum (prob middle stages Alzheimer’s - awaiting final diagnosis). She fell early December and now has limited mobility (can hobble with stick).
dementia nurse advised applying now.
AGE UK referred to DWP for home visit because it’s tricky to get my mum to their office.
do you know if DWP just go through Attendance Allowance forms? I’ve asked them to be sensitive to dementia issues as Mum is refusing to accept there’s a problem and getting very agitated with carers/form filling.
If anyone has experience of DWP home visits I’d be glad of any advice. my dad is asking me to be there on Wednesday but as I live 90 miles away it’s a bit tricky.

 

[Louise7]

AGE UK referred to DWP for home visit because it’s tricky to get my mum to their office.

I wonder if there's been some confusion on the part of Age UK.? Your Dad is able to fill out the Attendance Allowance form on your Mum's behalf so they should be able to provide him with help with this without insisting that your Mum attends their office in person. Or is the problem that there is no-one who can look after your Mum when your Dad goes to the Age UK office?

I don't have personal experience of the DWP visiting to complete an Attendance Allowance form ( I completed Mum's on-line) but I guess that they will need to ask your Dad all of the questions on the form to ensure that your Mum's care needs are fully recorded. As she may get agitated about this could your Dad go into another room when the form filler arrives?

 

[Bearz77]

Thanks so much for a speedy reply. I was trying to arrange the age UK appointment when I could release dad to go and do the form so I don’t think it’s that. Strange! But yes, dad would go in a separate room so hopefully that will be acceptable to DWP. Thank you!

 

[RosettaT]

AgeUK came out to our home to help me with the forms. OH had been in hospital and you can't apply under those circumstances but she came out a 8am the first morning OH was home as I couldn't leave him to get into the office. DWP was never mentioned.

 

[canary]

My mum had a home visit from DWP when I applied to become her appointee, so that I could speak to DWP on her behalf - she wouldnt give me POA and I did not yet have deputyship. Is this perhaps why there is a DWP home visit? The man who came was lovely, not in the least bit jobsworthy (as I had been expecting) and he chatted to mum, who unbeknown to her, demonstrated beautifully that she had no idea what was happening. He also advised me on how to fill in the AA application form.

 

[Jale]

Someone came from the DWP to fill in Mum's AA form - I think it was changing from one level of AA to another and I will say that he was brilliant, he was aware of Mum's dementia but still talked to her as if she understood what was going on (she didn't). He already had a lot of information from Mum's previous claim, so he didn't have a lot to fill in, he also took the POA documentation with him and returned it very quickly.

 

[doodle1]

Hi there
To set your mind at ease I volunteer for Age UK and going to see people to help fill in AA forms is our bread and butter. Where you are confused is that Age Uk when doing so ,act as nominated agents for the DWP. This only means that we can fill the forms in on the other person's behalf BUT we do not and cannot sign them . So it has to be the person involved or someone with POA. We help fill in the forms because they are 30 pages long and the form isn't easy.
Hope this helps
Jane

 

[nellbelles]

an application for AA or PIP usually involves the applicant having a face to face meeting. You can in some circumstances request a home visit if it will be too difficult for the applicant to travel to a DWP office..

 

[Vitesse]

When my husband was diagnosed with AD about 3 years ago, a lady from the Alzheimer’s Society came to see us and gave us lots of useful information. She also organised for someone form the DWP to come here to help us with the AA forms. She was lovely, and just asked questions about my husbands capabilities. She prompted us to make sure we were telling Her all the problems he experienced. I was very pleased because I had filled in the forms for my mother previously (she did not have dementia) and knew It was quite a task to bring out all the difficulties. Within weeks, we had been granted the AA.

 

[Bearz77]

Thank you all for your advice - a brilliant help.

 

[Sirena]

an application for AA or PIP usually involves the applicant having a face to face meeting. You can in some circumstances request a home visit if it will be too difficult for the applicant to travel to a DWP office..

I don't think AA applications usually involve a face to face meeting. You just request the forms, fill them in (with help if necessary) and send them back to DWP. That's how it worked for my mother - I have POA so I filled in the forms (with help), signed and returned them with a copy of the POA.

 

[Dimpsy]

I don't think AA applications usually involve a face to face meeting. You just request the forms, fill them in (with help if necessary) and send them back to DWP. That's how it worked for my mother - I have POA so I filled in the forms (with help), signed and returned them with a copy of the POA.

That's what we did too @Sirena, phoned for the forms, I filled them in and sent them back with a photocopy of mum's AZ diagnosis letter. We photocopied the AA form when it arrived and did a rough copy over a few days. It was surprising how many can do / can't do abilities of mum we were able to include by taking our time to think about it beforehand. If the AA claim is successful (it was), payment is backdated to the initiating phone call.

 

[Sirena]

Yes @Dimpsy - it's good it's backdated. I didn't have a copy of the diagnosis letter (it was sent to my mother, and guess what - it got lost) so I just put the date of diagnosis and they accepted that. I don't know if they can access NHS records to confirm.

It was authorised fairly quickly too, I think they give a timescale of 6 weeks, but it took a lot less. I was surprised how efficient it was!