Disability Benefits (Hansard, 13 September 2004)

§ Mr. McGrady
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what rationale underlies the differing periods of time which must elapse from the commencement of an illness before a claim can be made for(a) attendance allowance and (b) disability living allowance; and if he will review the rationale. [187824]

§ Mr. Spellar
The qualifying periods for attendance allowance and disability living allowance help ensure that they are not paid to people with short term, transient disabilities. The differences in the qualifying periods for the two benefits reflect the differing characteristics of the people they are designed to help. Disability living allowance focuses help with the extra costs of disability on people who have the very considerable disadvantage of being severely disabled early, or relatively early, in life. Hence, it has a shorter qualifying period than attendance allowance which provides help with the disability-related extra costs of people who do not experience the onset of severe disability until later in life when they are aged 65 or over. There are no plans to change these arrangements.
1476W

§ Mr. McGrady
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to review the legislation that places an age restriction on eligibility for disability living allowance. [187825]

§ Mr. Spellar
There are no plans to review the legislation in relation to the age bands for either the care or mobility components of disability living allowance.

§ Mr. McGrady
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will lower the rate of the care component for attendance allowance in order to provide elderly claimants with assistance towards their care costs. [187826]

§ Mr. Spellar
Attendance allowance is paid at two rates. The higher rate is for people who need help with personal care and/Dr supervision or watching over to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others by day and at night. The lower rate is for people who have those needs either during the day or at night. As at May 2004, attendance allowance was providing help towards the disability-related extra costs of over 65,000 people aged 65 or over in Northern Ireland. We believe that the allowance is properly directed towards the needs of older disabled people and there are no plans to introduce a third rate.