Attendance Allowance in a Care Home: 28-Day Rule and Funding 

Attendance Allowance stops 28 days after moving into a care home funded, even partly, by the local authority. If you’re self-funding all your care home fees, Attendance Allowance continues indefinitely. NHS Continuing Healthcare also triggers the 28-day cut-off, but NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC) does not. 

Moving into a care home changes how Attendance Allowance (AA) works, and the rules depend entirely on who’s footing the bill. Get the funding status wrong, and you risk either losing money you’re entitled to, or facing a DWP overpayment demand months down the line. Below, we break down exactly what happens to AA under each funding scenario, how the 28-day countdown works, and where residents and families most often go wrong.

The Four Funding Scenarios and What Happens to AA

How your care home stay is funded determines whether Attendance Allowance keeps flowing into your bank account or stops.

Scenario 1  Full self-funding (AA continues)

If you’re paying every penny of your care home fees yourself, from savings, investments or income, Attendance Allowance continues indefinitely. There’s no time limit and no need to reapply once you’re in the home.

Scenario 2  Full local authority funding (AA stops after 28 days)

If your local authority is paying the whole cost of your placement, Attendance Allowance stops 28 days after the funding begins, not 28 days after admission if funding started later.

Scenario 3  Mixed funding (AA stops after 28 days from LA contribution start)

Even a small local authority contribution counts. If the council tops up your fees alongside your own money, the 28-day countdown still applies, starting from the date the council contribution began, not from when you first moved in.

Scenario 4  NHS Continuing Healthcare (AA stops after 28 days)

If you’re assessed as eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC), your entire package of care is NHS-funded. Attendance Allowance stops after 28 days of receiving CHC, the same as local authority funding.

Attendance Allowance Care Home 28 Days: How the Rule Actually Works

The 28-day rule is the single most misunderstood part of claiming Attendance Allowance in a care home, so it’s worth breaking down carefully.

The countdown starts from the date funding begins

The clock doesn’t start on the day you walk through the care home door. It starts on the date local authority or NHS Continuing Healthcare funding actually begins. If you were self-funding for the first three months and the council only started contributing afterward, the 28-day countdown begins from that later date.

The linking rule for multiple stays

According to Carers UK’s April 2026 factsheet, any stays in hospital or a care home separated by 28 days or less are added together when working out when Attendance Allowance should stop. This means you can’t reset the clock by briefly returning home between stays if the gap is 28 days or shorter.

Calculating your last payable day

Count 28 calendar days (including weekends and bank holidays) from the date state or NHS funding started. Attendance Allowance is paid up to and including that 28th day, after which payments stop until your circumstances change again.

Self-Funded Care Home Attendance Allowance: What “Self-Funding” Actually Means

Self-funding sounds simple, but a few grey areas trip people up.

Full self-funding

This means you (or your family, on your behalf) pay 100% of your care home fees, with no local authority or NHS contribution whatsoever. Attendance Allowance continues without any time limit under this arrangement.

Deferred Payment Agreements

A Deferred Payment Agreement (DPA) lets you delay paying care home fees, usually secured against your home, while the council pays your fees on your behalf in the interim. Because the local authority is technically paying the care home during this period, it counts as local authority funding for AA purposes, and the 28-day rule can apply even though you’ll eventually repay every penny. If you’re relying on a DPA while selling your former home, seek advice before assuming your AA will be unaffected.

Top-up fees don’t change your self-funder status

If you or a family member pay a “top-up” fee to cover the gap between what the local authority will pay and the cost of your preferred care home, but the council is still funding the core placement, you are not classed as self-funding. The 28-day rule still applies, because the local authority contribution is what matters, not who pays the top-up.

Local Authority Care Home Attendance Allowance: The Rules for State-Funded Residents

If your local authority has assessed you as needing care and is contributing to or fully covering your care home fees, Attendance Allowance will generally stop 28 days after that funding begins.

Crucially, your local authority may include your Attendance Allowance in its financial (means-tested) assessment when calculating what you can afford to pay towards your care, even during the 28 days before it stops. Once AA stops, it’s no longer counted as income for that assessment, since you’re no longer receiving it.

If your circumstances change, for example, you sell a property and become able to self-fund, you’ll need to move to full self-funder status and notify the DWP so your Attendance Allowance can restart.

NHS-Funded Nursing Care (FNC) vs. Continuing Healthcare (CHC)

These two forms of NHS support sound similar but have opposite effects on Attendance Allowance, so it’s essential to know which one applies to you.

FNC: AA continues

NHS-funded nursing care is a flat weekly payment the NHS makes directly to a nursing home toward the cost of nursing care delivered by registered nurses. As of April 2026, this is paid at a standard rate of £267.68 a week in England (or £368.24 a week for residents on the older, higher band who moved in before October 2007). If FNC is the only state contribution you receive, Attendance Allowance continues to be paid in full.

CHC: AA stops after 28 days

NHS Continuing Healthcare is a much broader, fully funded package of care for people with significant, ongoing health needs. Because CHC covers your entire care package, not just the nursing element, it’s treated the same as local authority funding, and Attendance Allowance stops 28 days after CHC funding begins.

Checking which one applies to you

You should be assessed for NHS Continuing Healthcare before any decision is made about NHS-funded Nursing Care eligibility. Ask your integrated care board (ICB) or care home manager to confirm in writing exactly which type of NHS funding you’re receiving, since this single distinction determines whether your AA payments continue or stop.

Respite Care Attendance Allowance: Short Stays, Different Rules

Respite care, whether planned or emergency, has its own nuances worth understanding.

Self-funded respite

If you’re paying for a respite stay yourself, Attendance Allowance continues throughout, regardless of how long the stay lasts.

Local authority-funded respite

If the council is funding your respite stay, the same 28-day linking rule applies. According to Carers UK, if you need regular periods of respite care in a care home, it may be possible to arrange a pattern of stays so that your Attendance Allowance payments aren’t affected, but this requires careful planning and, ideally, advice from a benefits specialist before the stays begin.

Multiple respite stays and the linking calculation

Because stays separated by 28 days or less are linked together, several short respite breaks in quick succession can accumulate toward the 28-day limit even if no single stay lasts that long. Keep a written record of every admission and discharge date so you can track this accurately.

Hospital Stays and the 28-Day Suspension

Attendance Allowance interacts with hospital admissions in a similar way to care home stays. According to Carers UK, AA payments will generally stop after the first 28 days spent in hospital, and if you’ve had several stays in hospital, and there’s a 28-day gap or less between them, the stays will be linked. If you were previously in a care home, payment may stop even sooner, since the linking rule combines both types of stay when calculating your remaining days. You can still receive Attendance Allowance for any days you spend at home in between hospital stays.

Hospice Care: The Special Rules Exception

Hospice care is treated differently from standard care home rules. Attendance Allowance will generally still be payable if you’re terminally ill and living in a hospice, even where the hospice itself is charitably or NHS-funded. You, or someone acting on your behalf, should notify the DWP in writing that you’re in a hospice so your award isn’t mistakenly treated as a care home placement.

How to Notify DWP About a Care Home Move

You, or someone acting for you, must tell the DWP as soon as possible if you’re admitted to a care home, hospital or hospice, since this can affect your benefit.

• Call the Attendance Allowance helpline: 0800 731 0122 (textphone 0800 731 0317)
• Have ready: your National Insurance number, the care home’s name and address, the admission date, and how your stay is being funded
• Get it in writing: ask for written confirmation of how your award has been adjusted, so you have a record if a dispute arises later
• Act promptly: failing to notify the DWP promptly can lead to overpayments, which you will be asked to repay in full

What Happens When AA Stops in a Care Home

When your 28 days run out, payments stop, but your underlying award isn’t cancelled outright.

If you later leave the care home, whether to return home or move to a self-funded arrangement, Attendance Allowance can restart. Because of the linking rule, if you leave and return within 28 days, the earlier funded period still counts toward any future calculation. If your funding status changes, for instance, your local authority funding ends and you become a self-funder, contact the DWP straight away so payments can resume without unnecessary delay.

The Scotland Difference

Attendance Allowance no longer exists in Scotland. It has been replaced by Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP), administered by Social Security Scotland, with matching rates: £76.70 a week (lower rate) and £114.60 a week (higher rate). As with AA, you can apply for PADP in a care home if you’re paying for all of your own care costs.

Separately, everyone in Scotland aged 65 or over who’s assessed as needing personal care is entitled to free personal care from their local authority, regardless of income. From 1 April 2026, this is worth £260.30 a week towards personal care costs (plus £117.10 a week for nursing care where applicable), on top of any PADP entitlement for self-funders. This universal provision is unique to Scotland and has no direct equivalent in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Financial Assessment Considerations When Moving to Care

If your local authority is assessing whether it will contribute to your fees, your capital is measured against set thresholds. In England for 2026/27, the upper capital limit is £23,250 and the lower limit is £14,250; above the upper limit, you’re expected to self-fund. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own thresholds, so check locally.

Two points are especially relevant to Attendance Allowance:

• Councils can factor AA into their means-tested calculation of what you can afford, even during the 28 days before it stops.
• The value of your former home is usually disregarded from this assessment for the first 12 weeks after you move into permanent care, which can affect the timing of when local authority funding, and therefore the 28-day AA rule, kicks in.

Common Care Home AA Mistakes

• Not notifying DWP promptly: Delays can trigger overpayment demands that must be repaid, sometimes months after the event.
• Confusing FNC with CHC: Assuming NHS-funded Nursing Care behaves like Continuing Healthcare, when only the latter stops AA.
• Missing the linking rule on respite stays: Treating each short stay as a fresh 28-day window when stays close together are actually combined.
• Losing track of exact dates: Not keeping a written log of admission and discharge dates, making it hard to challenge a DWP decision later.
• Spending past the cut-off: Continuing to rely on AA payments that have technically already stopped, leading to a shortfall in the care home budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Attendance Allowance stop in a care home?
It depends on funding. Attendance Allowance stops 28 days after a local authority or NHS Continuing Healthcare starts funding your care home place. It continues indefinitely if you’re self-funding.

Can I get AA if I’m self-funding my care home?
Yes. As long as you’re paying all of your own care home fees, Attendance Allowance continues without any time limit.

What happens to my AA if the council pays my care?
Payments stop 28 days after the local authority funding begins, whether the council pays the full cost or contributes alongside your own money.

Does NHS funding stop my Attendance Allowance?
It depends which type. NHS-funded Nursing Care (FNC) doesn’t affect AA. NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) stops AA after 28 days, since it covers your whole care package.

Can I claim AA for the first time from a care home?
Yes. You can make a new claim while living in a care home, whether self-funded or state-funded, but the same 6-month qualifying period and funding rules apply once any award is made.

What if I go into a care home for just a few weeks?
If it’s a self-funded respite stay, AA continues throughout. If it’s local authority-funded, the 28-day linking rule applies, and short stays close together can be added together.

Does AA restart if I move back home?
Yes, provided your circumstances still meet the eligibility criteria. Notify the DWP of your discharge date so payments can resume.

How do I inform DWP about moving to care?
Call the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 as soon as possible after admission, and follow up with written confirmation of your funding arrangement.