Attendance Allowance: agency agreement

5. Delivery of Attendance Allowance

5.1 DWP will, on behalf of and as agreed with the Scottish Ministers, continue to process new claims to Attendance Allowance for an interim period, whilst the Scottish Government prepare to take new applications to Pension Age Disability Payment, proposed to commence in Autumn 2024, for people resident in Scotland. The processing of new applications will be consistent with the delivery of Attendance Allowance and its related functions under the same procedures that cover the delivery of Attendance Allowance to people resident in England and Wales.

5.2 DWP will, on behalf of and as agreed with the Scottish Ministers, continue to deliver an operational service for people resident in Scotland with existing Attendance Allowance cases, consistent with the delivery of Attendance Allowance and its related functions under the same procedures that cover the delivery of Attendance Allowance to people resident in England and Wales.

5.3 For the avoidance of doubt, this means that the Scottish Ministers will not be requesting changes to the DWP business as usual arrangements.

5.4 The delivery of Attendance Allowance includes delivery of all associated functions such as administration of the award, notifying other parts of DWP that an award of benefit has been made, handling queries on individual claims and general enquiries, debt recovery action and investigating information that would indicate fraud and/or error has occurred. This list is not exhaustive.

5.5 Information on DWP Attendance Allowance can be found in the DWP Decision Makers Guide. This is an approved guide to help Attendance Allowance Case Managers make decisions. It is a plain English representation of social security law and case law. It can be found on www.gov.uk at:

Decision Makers Guide Vol 2 International Subjects

5.6 Any recent updates and/or amendments to the DWP Decision Makers Guide can be found here.

5.7 During the Term, the cases of all Attendance Allowance claimants resident in Scotland will transfer to Social Security Scotland from DWP. Social Security Scotland will create new client awards based on the existing DWP award components and rates. The transfer of these cases is proposed to begin in 2025 based on selection criteria and transfer processes which will be jointly agreed between DWP and the Scottish Government.

5.8 For the Term of this Agreement, the Scottish Government will maintain parity with DWP’s rates of Attendance Allowance as part of the normal up-rating cycle.

5.9 For the Term of this Agreement, the Scottish Government will maintain parity with DWP in terms of the eligibility criteria to all Attendance Allowance claims.

5.10 There will be no difference in the application of debt policy to Attendance Allowance as delivered in Scotland by DWP, during the Term of this Agreement. This will include, but will not be limited to, recovery methods and rates, hardship considerations, priority order, write-off, and waivers.

5.11 For surveillance matters, under section 8(1) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000 (“the 2000 Act”), individuals holding such offices, ranks and positions as are prescribed, may grant authorisations under sections 6 and 7 of that Act for the use of directed surveillance and covert human intelligence sources respectively. Article 2(2) of, and Schedule 1 to, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Prescription of Offices, etc. and Specification of Public Authorities) (Scotland) Order 2010 (‘the 2010 Order’), as amended in 2018 and 2020, prescribes the person(s) authorised to grant authorisations. The Scottish Administration, of which Social Security Scotland is a part, is prescribed as a relevant public authority for the purposes of section 8 of the 2000 Act.

5.12 An operational process has been developed and agreed between both parties that reflects the 2010 Order (as amended) that is in force for benefits administered under Agency Agreements.