Tax-free £441 a month to be paid to households as Brits urged to check if they qualify

Millions have been told they could be missing out on a tax-free benefit worth a whopping £441 a month.

The Department for Work and Pensions offers various benefits, but Attendance Allowance, which helps with extra costs if you have a severe disability, remains significantly underclaimed. The government says it is paid at two different rates, depending on the level of care you need due to your disability.

You could receive £68.10 or even £101.75 a week to help with personal support if you’re both physically or mentally disabled and State Pension age or older. However, it does not cover mobility needs. Conditions that can qualify for Attendance Allowance include arthritis, spondylosis, back pain, diseases of the muscles, bones or joints, trauma to limbs, blindness, deafness, heart disease and chest disease.

Asthma, Cystic fibrosis, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease and epilepsy are also listed, as is neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Motor neurone disease, Chronic pain syndromes and diabetes mellitus, as well as metabolic disease, traumatic paraplegia/tetraplegia, major trauma other than traumatic paraplegia/tetraplegia and learning difficulties, are also listed.

Psychosis, psychoneurosis, personality disorder, dementia and behavioural disorder also make the list, as does alcohol and drug abuse, hyperkinetic syndrome, eenal disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, bowel and stomach disease, blood disorders and haemophilia.

Multi-system disorders, multiple allergy syndrome, skin disease and malignant disease are also listed, as is severely mentally impaired, double amputee, deaf/blind, haemodialysis, frailty, total parenteral autrition and AIDS. Infectious diseases – from Covid to tuberculosis, malaria and being terminally ill are also listed. With it totalling up to £5,291 a year, it could be worthwhile for people to check if they’re eligible.

It comes after the DWP has been accused of “insulting” families by offering a Christmas bonus of just £10. It pays the extra cash at the start of December to those on legacy benefits. It was introduced in 1972 and has stayed at £10 ever since, except in 2008 when it was temporarily increased to £70 to support people during the financial crash.

It was reduced back to £10 the following year. The £10 would be worth £113 today if it had kept up with inflation, according to an Office for National Statistics (ONS) calculator. One Mirror reader emailed us and said: “It is an insult and a tick box exercise by the DWP to show they are not Scrooge.”