Attendance Allowance after death: what happens to payments and overpayments
Attendance Allowance is usually paid four-weekly in arrears. What that means for the final payment, overpayments and Carer's Allowance after a death.
Is Attendance Allowance paid in advance or arrears?
For most people it is paid four-weekly in arrears. Age UK's Attendance Allowance factsheet (May 2026) describes this as the usual pattern, whilst noting that some payments are made at shorter intervals or weekly in advance, and Scottish transfer legislation refers to some awards being paid "one week in advance and 3 weekly in arrears". GOV.UK only says the benefit is a weekly rate (£76.70 or £114.60 in 2026/27), so the award letter or bank statements are the reliable way to see which cycle applied.
The cycle matters after a death because it decides who the last payment belongs to. With payment in arrears, a payment received before the death covers time the person was alive and belongs to the estate in full, whereas one received after the death usually straddles the date of death, which is why part of it has to be returned.
What happens to the final payment after someone dies?
Attendance Allowance stops when the claimant dies, and nothing is payable for the days afterwards. If the DWP has already sent the next four-weekly payment, or sends it before the death has been processed, the portion covering the days after the death is an overpayment. As a rough example, if someone on the higher rate of £114.60 a week died one week into a four-week payment period, about £114.60 of that payment relates to time when they were alive and about £343.80 relates to the three weeks after, which is the part the DWP will reclaim.
The opposite can also happen, because if the DWP stops payments promptly there may be days between the last payment and the death that have not been paid, and that money belongs to the estate. Either way, keep the person's bank account open until the DWP has confirmed the final position in writing. Our guide to what happens to a bank account when someone dies explains how banks handle payments that land after a death.
How does the DWP find out about the death?
The simplest route is Tell Us Once, which the registrar will offer when you register the death in England, Scotland or Wales. It notifies the DWP, HMRC, the local council and Social Security Scotland in one go, and you must use it within 28 days of receiving the reference number. If you cannot use it, call the DWP Bereavement Service on 0800 151 2012 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm), or the Attendance Allowance helpline on 0800 731 0122 (Relay UK: 18001 then 0800 731 0122), also open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. Our guide to Tell Us Once covers what it reaches and what it leaves out.
Tell Us Once does not operate in Northern Ireland, where the Department for Communities Bereavement Service (0800 085 2463, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) is the single point of contact for reporting a death.
Do you have to pay back Attendance Allowance after death?
You have to repay anything paid for the period after the death, and the DWP recovers it from the estate rather than from family members personally. GOV.UK's guidance on repayments when someone has died is blunt about the risk to executors: you should not distribute the estate until you know what needs to be repaid, because if you do, you may have to pay the money back yourself.
There are two kinds of overpayment to keep in mind. The first is the post-death payment described above, which is usually limited to a few weeks of benefit. The second is an older overpayment that the DWP only finds when it reviews the claim, for example because the person had been in hospital or a care home and the change was never reported, or because their savings were higher than declared on a linked means-tested benefit. For that kind of review, the DWP writes to the executor once probate has been granted and asks for evidence such as bank statements and building society passbooks; if you do not provide it, the overpayment is calculated on the whole probate value of the estate before deductions.
The practical approach is to keep a reserve in the estate account until the DWP confirms in writing that nothing more is owed, and to record the figure in the estate accounts. If you think the DWP's calculation is wrong, you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration, usually within one month of receiving the overpayment letter.
What happens to Carer's Allowance when the person you care for dies?
Carer's Allowance does not stop on the day of death. Under section 70(1A) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, the carer stays entitled for eight weeks, counted from the Sunday after the death (or from the date of death if it was a Sunday), even though they are no longer caring. The run-on ends sooner if the carer stops meeting another condition first, such as earning more than the £204 a week limit after tax, National Insurance and expenses.
The carer has to report the death themselves, because Tell Us Once only stops the benefits of the person who died and does not touch anyone else's claim. If the carer gets Pension Credit with the carer addition (£48.15 a week in 2026/27), that addition also continues for eight weeks from the Sunday after the death under the State Pension Credit Regulations.
In Scotland, Carer's Allowance has been replaced by Carer Support Payment, and for deaths on or after 15 March 2026 the run-on for that benefit is 12 weeks rather than eight.
What happens to Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction?
Attendance Allowance is not counted as income for Pension Credit, but it often unlocks extra amounts in means-tested benefits, so its loss has knock-on effects. In Pension Credit, getting Attendance Allowance can qualify someone for the severe disability addition of £86.05 a week, and the claimant's own Pension Credit ends with their death. If they had a partner on the same claim, the partner must report the death because their award will be recalculated as a single person's.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction are run by the local council, which Tell Us Once notifies. Ask the council to confirm in writing whether anything was paid for the period after the death, and treat it as another body you wait to hear from before distributing the estate. For anyone still living in the home who claims these benefits, the council will reassess, and Age UK points out that non-dependant deductions for other adults in the household, which are switched off while a claimant gets Attendance Allowance, can come back into play. Our guide on what happens to council tax when someone dies covers the bill itself.
Scotland: Pension Age Disability Payment
Pension Age Disability Payment has replaced Attendance Allowance in Scotland. Social Security Scotland began moving existing awards across in February 2025 and the Scottish Government says more than 99% had moved by the end of 2025, so almost everyone in Scotland who was getting Attendance Allowance is now paid by Social Security Scotland rather than the DWP, at the same weekly rates.
Tell Us Once notifies Social Security Scotland, or you can call it on 0800 182 2222 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm). Its decision-making guidance says entitlement ends from the day after the death and that the estate is liable for anything paid after that, although overpayments of £65 or less are treated as small and are not recovered. If someone died part way through their transfer from Attendance Allowance, the DWP tells Social Security Scotland, the transfer is stopped and Social Security Scotland writes to the person who reported the death.
How do PIP and DLA compare?
Personal Independence Payment works in a similar way. Regulation 48 of the PIP regulations says it is paid at four-weekly intervals in arrears, with weekly payment in advance possible for people who are terminally ill, so the payment after a death is split between the estate and an overpayment in the same way. In Scotland, PIP has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment.
For adults, Disability Living Allowance now only continues for people born on or before 8 April 1948, and GOV.UK says it is usually paid every four weeks on a Wednesday. The same rules on reporting the death, holding back estate funds and repaying anything paid for the days afterwards apply to both benefits, and a carer looking after someone on the PIP daily living component or the middle or highest DLA care rate gets the same eight-week Carer's Allowance run-on.
Timeline at a glance
Death (day 0): Attendance Allowance entitlement ends.
Registration (within 5 days of the medical examiner's confirmation, or 8 days in Scotland): register the death and get a Tell Us Once reference.
Notification (within 28 days of getting the reference number): use Tell Us Once, or call the DWP or the Attendance Allowance helpline.
Final payment (next payday, usually within four weeks): the next scheduled payment may still arrive and be split between the estate and an overpayment.
Overpayment letter (no published timescale; full estate reviews start after the grant of probate): the DWP sets out the amount to repay or any arrears due to the estate.
Challenge (usually within one month of receiving the letter): ask for a mandatory reconsideration if the figure looks wrong.
Carer run-on (8 weeks from the Sunday after the death, or 12 weeks for Carer Support Payment in Scotland): Carer's Allowance and any Pension Credit carer addition continue.
What executors should do next
Report the death through Tell Us Once, or to the DWP Bereavement Service if you cannot use it.
Download or request the person's bank statements for the last few months, so you can see when Attendance Allowance was paid and what period each payment covered.
Keep the account that received the benefit open until the DWP's final letter arrives.
Keep enough money back in the estate to cover any overpayment, and do not pay out to beneficiaries until the DWP and the council have confirmed their figures.
Make sure a carer or surviving partner reports the death on their own claim, because Tell Us Once will not do it for them.
Tell Us Once deals with the government side, but it does not reach the person's bank, energy supplier, phone provider or insurers, and those accounts carry on until each provider is told. If you would rather not ring each one yourself, Legacy Trail's free notification service contacts private-sector providers on your behalf, and our guide to what an executor does sets out where the benefit checks fit within the wider estate work.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, in most cases. It is usually paid every four weeks in arrears, so each payment covers the previous four weeks. A small number of awards are paid on a split cycle or weekly in advance, which the award letter or bank statements will show.
It is not payable for any day after the death. A payment can still arrive afterwards because it was already scheduled, but the share covering the period after the death is an overpayment that the DWP will reclaim from the estate.
The estate does, not you personally, provided you have not already distributed the estate. GOV.UK warns that an executor who shares out the estate before the overpayment is settled may have to repay it themselves.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Individual circumstances vary. If you are dealing with an estate, consider taking advice from a solicitor who specialises in probate. For other guidance specific to your circumstances, speak to a funeral director, Citizens Advice, or a regulated financial adviser.