If you live in Scotland, Attendance Allowance is not the benefit to apply for. The money is the same and so is the purpose, but the rules are not identical — and in one place Scotland is plainly more generous, which is not something anybody says out loud.
What replaced Attendance Allowance in Scotland
Pension Age Disability Payment is the Scottish version, administered by Social Security Scotland rather than the Department for Work and Pensions. It is for people who have reached State Pension age and have care needs during the day or night because of a disability or health condition.
You cannot hold both. mygov.scot states plainly that you cannot get Pension Age Disability Payment and Attendance Allowance at the same time (mygov.scot, Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 1 November 2026).
The six-month rule is more generous in Scotland
This is the difference worth knowing before you assume the two benefits are identical. Attendance Allowance requires that you have already needed help for at least six months. Pension Age Disability Payment lets you apply before that point, and dates the award from when the six months is up.
mygov.scot puts it directly: you can still apply if you have not had care needs for six months or more, and your award will begin six months from when your care needs started if your application is successful (mygov.scot, Who can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 10 September 2026).
GOV.UK sets out no equivalent for Attendance Allowance. Its condition is that you “have needed that help for at least 6 months”, with nothing about applying earlier or dating an award back to that point (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance: eligibility, checked 1 November 2026).
Scotland says the diagnosis thing out loud
The second difference is one of clarity rather than entitlement, and it still matters. mygov.scot states you can apply while waiting for a diagnosis, or without one at all. GOV.UK’s Attendance Allowance pages say nothing about diagnosis in either direction.
That silence is not a restriction — our guide to the mistakes that get claims refused explains that Attendance Allowance turns on the help you need rather than the label you have been given. But a rule you have to infer may stop people applying in a way that a rule written down does not. mygov.scot says you can still apply for Pension Age Disability Payment if you are waiting for, or do not have, a diagnosis (mygov.scot, Who can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 1 November 2026).
What it pays
The rates are currently the same as Attendance Allowance: £76.70 a week at the lower rate and £114.60 at the higher one, with the level depending on your care needs. If you are terminally ill you automatically get the higher rate.
It is not means-tested. mygov.scot states your income and savings are not taken into account and will not affect any award you might get. Nor do you need to have somebody caring for you in order to claim (mygov.scot, Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 1 November 2026).
The two sets of rates are published by different governments, so check the Scottish figure rather than assuming it still matches. Our Attendance Allowance rates page carries the DWP figures alongside last year’s.
If you already get Attendance Allowance
There is nothing for you to do, and no form to fill in. Social Security Scotland moves the benefit across without an application from you, and mygov.scot states there will be no gap in your entitlement and no change to your award when it happens.
You keep receiving Attendance Allowance until Pension Age Disability Payment starts. Our Attendance Allowance contact page notes the corollary: there is no need to ring the DWP to stop the old award.
The same applies to Disability Living Allowance in Scotland — mygov.scot states your benefit moves to Social Security Scotland and you do not need to do anything (mygov.scot, Who can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 10 September 2026).
If you applied for the wrong one
An application for the wrong benefit is not wasted, which is worth knowing if you have already sent a form to the DWP. The Department for Work and Pensions passes it to Social Security Scotland, who use it as an application for Pension Age Disability Payment and decide it.
Crucially, your payments run from the date you applied for Attendance Allowance rather than from the date it was passed on, if the application succeeds (mygov.scot, How to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 10 September 2026).
An Adult Disability Payment application made after State Pension age can be used the same way. mygov.scot adds that you may be asked to confirm you want to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment and to supply further information before a decision is made.
How to apply
There are two routes and both come in two parts, except for terminal illness applications, which are a single part to make them faster. You can apply online through myaccount, or start a paper application by telephone and have the form posted to you.
The number is 0800 182 2222, free to call, open 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday. An adviser takes your part 1 details on the call and Social Security Scotland posts part 2 with a prepaid return envelope.
Online, part 1 has to be submitted within 14 days and part 2 within 56 days, and you can ask for more time on either. If part 2 does not arrive within eight weeks, Social Security Scotland will assume you do not want to go ahead and will delete the application within 90 days of the date you started it (mygov.scot, How to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 1 November 2026).
British Sign Language users can reach Social Security Scotland by video call through Contact Scotland BSL, and somebody else can apply on your behalf if you cannot complete the form yourself.
If you live in a care home
The rule is about who pays, as it is in England and Wales. You can apply if you meet all your own care costs. You cannot usually get Pension Age Disability Payment if a local council pays for your care.
There is a difference in how Scotland handles the second case. mygov.scot states that where a council pays for your care you may still apply, but you will only get the payment if you leave the care home (mygov.scot, Who can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 10 September 2026).
Our guide to Attendance Allowance in care homes covers the equivalent rules for the rest of Great Britain.
If you have moved, or do not live in Scotland
Moving is the one case where nothing happens automatically, and there is a deadline attached. If you receive Attendance Allowance and move from England or Wales to Scotland, GOV.UK states you must tell the DWP and make a new claim for Pension Age Disability Payment — the transfer that happens for existing Scottish residents does not apply to you.
Your Attendance Allowance stops 13 weeks after you move, and GOV.UK’s instruction is to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment as soon as possible after moving or your payments could be affected (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance, checked 1 November 2026). The same applies if you were mid-application or mid-challenge when you moved.
Going the other way, if you receive Pension Age Disability Payment and move to England or Wales, you must report the move to Social Security Scotland and apply for Attendance Allowance (GOV.UK, Attendance Allowance, checked 1 November 2026).
There is also a route for people outside the UK. You can apply if you live in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or Gibraltar and have what mygov.scot calls a genuine and sufficient link to Scotland — for example, having spent a significant part of your life there (mygov.scot, Who can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 10 September 2026).
Before you apply
Social Security Scotland publishes its own eligibility checker. It asks where you live, your age, how long you have had care needs and what other benefits you receive, then tells you whether Pension Age Disability Payment looks suitable and flags anything else worth considering (mygov.scot, Who can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, checked 10 September 2026).
If you are earlier than that and want to know what else might be worth claiming, 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.