One number covers everything Attendance Allowance involves, which is worth knowing before you start looking for a second one — though it is not the same number as Carer’s Allowance uses. The more useful question is not what the number is but what a call can do — and one kind of call is worth six weeks of money.
The number, and when it is answered
The Attendance Allowance helpline is 0800 731 0122, open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm. There is one number rather than several, and it handles both new claims and changes to an existing award. Calls to 0800 numbers are free from personal mobiles and landlines. To chase a claim, our how long it takes page says what is normal.
The hours come from GOV.UK’s own how-to-claim page (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: how to claim, checked 9 September 2026), and the note about 0800 calls being free is printed on page 31 of the claim form itself (the claim form itself (PDF), checked 1 November 2026).
One number for a claim and for a change
One number covers both a new claim and a change to an existing award. GOV.UK gives 0800 731 0122 on its how-to-claim page and again on its report-a-change page, so there is no second line to hunt for and no risk of being told you have rung the wrong one.
That matters most when something has changed and you are unsure whether it counts. GOV.UK directs both kinds of call to the same line, so a call that begins “I am not sure whether I need to tell you this” does not need routing anywhere else first (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: report a change in circumstances, checked 9 September 2026).
What you have to tell them
Nine changes have to be reported, and GOV.UK says to contact the helpline immediately. They run from a change in your condition through to a change of address, and they include a stay in hospital or a care home and any plan to leave the country for more than four weeks.
The full list is:
- the level of help you need, or your condition, changes
- you go into hospital or a care home
- a medical professional says you may have 12 months or less to live
- you plan to leave the country for more than 4 weeks
- you go into prison
- you change your name, address or bank details
- you want to stop receiving the benefit
- your doctor’s details change
- your immigration status changes, if you are not a British citizen
Source: GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: report a change in circumstances, checked 9 September 2026.
What happens if you do not report one
GOV.UK is blunt about it. You could be taken to court or have to pay a penalty if you give wrong information or do not report a change in your circumstances, and anything you were overpaid may have to be paid back (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: report a change in circumstances, checked 9 September 2026). A call that feels awkward now is cheaper than the letter that follows.
The care home rule reaches further than people expect. GOV.UK states you must tell the organisation that pays your benefit as soon as possible if you go into a care home for one night or longer (GOV.UK, Report a care home stay if you claim benefits, checked 1 November 2026), and it sets out no separate threshold for respite. Our guide to Attendance Allowance in care homes covers what has to be reported and when the benefit actually stops.
If you cannot hear or speak on the phone
Relay UK covers the helpline: dial 18001 followed by 0800 731 0122. There is also a British Sign Language video relay service, which works from a computer, and instructions for using it on a mobile or tablet are published on YouTube. Both are routes to the same number rather than separate services.
The claim form’s cover lists more besides, all on the same number: braille, a hearing loop, translations, large print, Easy Read, audio, and a Welsh version of the form for anyone living in Wales (the claim form itself (PDF), checked 1 November 2026). The Relay UK and British Sign Language routes are both given by GOV.UK (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: report a change in circumstances, checked 9 September 2026).
If you would rather write
Post goes to Freepost DWP Attendance Allowance, which needs neither a postcode nor a stamp (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: how to claim, checked 9 September 2026). That single address takes a completed claim form and anything you are sending with it, so there is nothing else to look up before posting.
Our guide to the AA1A claim form covers what to write on the envelope and why you should send copies of any documents rather than originals.
Ringing for a form protects your claim date
There is one reason to ring rather than print the form, and it is worth money. If you ask for a form by phone, the claim runs from the date of your call rather than the date the form arrives back — provided you return it within six weeks.
At the higher rate of £114.60 a week, those six weeks are £687.60 (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: how to claim, checked 9 September 2026). So the sequence that loses nothing is to ring first, then take your time over the answers.
How the other two routes affect your claim date, and what the form asks once you have it, are on our guide to the AA1A claim form.
What to have in front of you before you ring
Have the same five things to hand that an application asks for: your National Insurance number, your address and contact details, details of the condition you need help with, your GP surgery or medical centre, and your care home, hospital or hospice if you are staying in one.
These are the details GOV.UK says you will need to apply, so having them to hand before you ring means you will not have to look for them during the call (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: how to claim, checked 1 November 2026).
If you live in Scotland, this is the wrong number
Scotland replaced Attendance Allowance with Pension Age Disability Payment, run by Social Security Scotland. If you already receive Attendance Allowance there, mygov.scot states you do not need to contact the Department for Work and Pensions to have it stopped — the transfer happens without you doing anything.
You also cannot hold both at once. Social Security Scotland is free to call on 0800 182 2222, open 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday (mygov.scot, How to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 1 November 2026). Our Pension Age Disability Payment guide covers how the Scottish rules differ, including the six-month rule, which is more generous than the DWP’s.
If you live in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland runs Attendance Allowance through the Disability and Carers Service rather than the Department for Work and Pensions, and nidirect is where its contact details are published (nidirect, Attendance Allowance, checked 1 November 2026). We have not been able to verify a dedicated Attendance Allowance number there, so we would rather send you to nidirect’s Attendance Allowance page, Attendance Allowance than print one.
One difference is worth knowing before you ring: nidirect states that the date of your email or phone request for a claim pack is treated as your date of claim (nidirect, Attendance Allowance, checked 1 November 2026).
Whether the call is worth making at all
If you are ringing because you are not sure whether you would qualify, that question has a faster answer than a phone queue. The test is the help you need rather than the help you already get, and what you earn or have saved makes no difference to it.
If the call is only to check when your next Attendance Allowance payment arrives or how much it will be, GOV.UK’s Check your benefits and State Pension payments service shows that online, along with the last three months of payments. It needs a GOV.UK One Login, and appointees cannot use it (GOV.UK, Check your benefits and State Pension payments, checked 1 November 2026).
GOV.UK states that what you earn and how much you have in savings will not affect what you get (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: what you'll get, checked 1 November 2026).
Our see what you can claim tool asks three questions and gives the answer before it asks anything of you. Nothing you enter leaves your browser, and there is no name or email to give.