Care homes and hospitals
Where you live, and where you are treated, can pause or block Attendance Allowance. The rules are different for care homes and hospitals, and the distinction that matters most is who pays for the care.
Care homes
You cannot usually get Attendance Allowance if you live in a care home and your care is paid for by your local authority. You can still claim if you pay for all your care home costs yourself — a self-funder. That single distinction decides most care-home cases, and it is worth stating plainly because it surprises families: moving into a care home does not automatically end Attendance Allowance, and staying in one does not automatically preserve it. What matters is the funding. If funding changes — for example, a self-funder starts receiving local authority funding, or a funded resident becomes a self-funder — that change must be reported, and it can change entitlement.
Hospitals
The GOV.UK Pension Credit toolkit states the hospital position in terms that cover Attendance Allowance directly: the Severe Disability extra amount in Pension Credit will normally stop if the person spends more than 28 days in hospital, and this is the same point at which their Attendance Allowance stops. In other words, a hospital stay of more than 28 days normally pauses Attendance Allowance, and the associated Pension Credit extra with it. Short stays do not trigger the pause. The exact wording of the Attendance Allowance hospital rule is not spelled out on the GOV.UK guide's overview page, so this site states the toolkit position — more than 28 days — and directs readers to confirm the treatment of their own stay with the DWP rather than presenting further detail as guide-verified fact.
What to report, and when
Going into hospital or a care home must be reported straight away, with the address, the dates, and how the stay is paid for. If a care home stay lasts more than four weeks, you must also report any change to how the fees are funded (for example, starting or stopping NHS or local council funding), a move from temporary to permanent residence, a move to another care home, or a move into hospital. Failure to report can lead to overpayment that must be repaid, and in serious cases to court action or a penalty — so the safe rule is to report first and ask questions later.