The DWP have begun offering claimants the opportunity to claim attendance allowance (AA) online, but possibly only on a Monday. As well as a limit to the numbers who can use it, the new system does appear to have some serious limitations.
The option to claim AA online has been quietly introduced by the DWP on their main Attendance Allowance page on Gov.uk.
The online option cannot be used, however, if you:
- are an appointee
- have power of attorney
- are claiming under the special rules for end of life
Only a limited number of people can use the online service each week, though there is no indication of how many this is.
Applications become available on a Monday and, once they have all been used, anyone clicking on the online link will be taken to a page that explains that:
“You cannot apply online today
This is because:
the service is still being developed
only a limited number of people can apply online each week
More applications will become available every Monday.
You can still apply by post.”
Claimants who do manage to get one of the online slots will quickly become aware of a number of issues with the new system.
Most importantly, it does not appear to be possible to save a partially completed form, meaning the whole application has to be done in one sitting.
In addition, there is no way of submitting additional evidence along with the online form. A message explains:
“We will contact you if we need any supporting medical evidence about your health condition or disability.”
There is also no obvious way of providing additional information about the difficulties you have with a given activity.
For example, in relation to the question: “How do you manage to get in or out of bed?” there are tick box options such as:
“I have restricted movement due to my pain or mobility.”
“I hold onto things to get in or out of bed.”
But there is no additional information box to give further details about how long it takes, where the pain is, how long the pain lasts, examples of occasions when things have gone wrong or anything else.
There is a “Something else” box, but this is restricted to 200 characters and is intended for explaining a difficulty not listed, rather than giving more information about an existing option.
The online pages label the form as “BETA This is a new service – your feedback will help us to improve it.”
For most claimants, it may be that the form’s disadvantages currently outweigh its advantages. But we would be happy to receive feedback from anyone who does use the service.
