No plans to review Attendance Allowance to include mobility element for older people with disability

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The UK Government has dismissed a call by Labour to extend eligibility for free vehicle tax to include people of State Pension age in receipt of Attendance Allowance.

Labour MP Seema Malhotra asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if any recent assessments had been made into the “potential merits” of doing so.Unlike Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Adult Disability Payment (ADP), Child Disability Payment or Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Attendance Allowance does not have a mobility component.

In its response to the query, The Treasury said that the benefit is intended to “cover the need for care or supervision an individual requires as a result of their disability rather than specific mobility needs”.Treasury Minister, James Cartlidge MP, highlighted that older people claiming Attendance Allowance can, however, choose to use their benefit to “fund mobility aids”.

In a written response last week, Mr Cartlidge said: “The Government is absolutely committed to supporting disabled people and is determined that support should be focused on people who need it most. “The aim of existing Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) exemptions for recipients of some disability benefits is to provide additional help for people who become disabled early, or relatively early, in life and as a result experience economic disadvantage.“These allowances are therefore only available to people who become disabled before State Pension age.”He continued: “For individuals who develop a disability after State Pension age, Attendance Allowance (AA) is a non-means-tested benefit which provides targeted help with the extra costs of disability and helps them maintain their independence.“Unlike Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment, AA