Benefits and
hospital
Key information
When you or a member of your family go into or
come out of hospital, the welfare benefits you get may change. What
will happen to your benefits depends on the type of benefit you
get.
A stay in hospital can also affect the
benefits your partner or carer gets.
This section explains the rules relating to
benefits when someone goes into hospital.
Applies to: England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland
Please note: This is a complicated area and we
recommend that you seek advice from an expert benefits adviser
about your particular circumstances. You can use our Find an Adviser tool to find a local adviser.
Index
You can read through this information sheet,
or go directly to the sections you want to read by clicking on
these links:
Benefits in hospital
Some benefits stop being paid or are reduced, once you, your
partner or child have been in hospital as an in-patient for a set
period of time. Others are paid in full. You should tell
whoever pays the benefit e.g. Jobcentre Plus, the Pension Service,
HMRC or the Local Authority that you are in hospital. You
should tell the people paying your benefit as soon as you go into
hospital. They can then make any changes that need to be made
so that you are not paid too much, or too little. If you move
from a care home into hospital you also should tell the people
paying your benefits straight away as the rules for hospitals and
care homes are different.
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Benefits that stop being paid if you go into hospital
Payments of Disability
Living Allowance and Attendance
Allowance you get will stop after you have been in hospital for
28 days. If your Disability Living Allowance and Attendance
Allowance payments stop, they will be paid again as soon as you
come out of hospital. If you come out of hospital, but have to
go back in within 28 days your benefit will stop again as soon as
you become a patient.
If you were living in a care home before going
into hospital and payment of Disability Living Allowance care
component or Attendance Allowance had stopped, you will not be paid
when you go into hospital. Also after 28 days in hospital
payment of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance
will stop.
If you get the mobility component of
Disability Living Allowance and are using it to buy a car under the
Motability scheme, payments will still be made until the agreement
to hire or lease a vehicle comes to an end.
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Benefits that will be paid in hospital
If you get the following benefits, the amount you get for
yourself will not change if you go into hospital. You will
carry on getting the benefit, but if you get any extra money in the
benefit for another person, for example for a child or your partner
this will usually stop after you have been in hospital for 52
weeks:
If you get contributory Employment and
Support Allowance, it will be paid in full while you are in
hospital. Although from 30 April 2012, the amount of time you can
claim it for will be limited to 365 days.
If you get contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, it
will stop when you are sick and not able to look for work for more
than 2 weeks. You should get advice to see if you can get another
benefit instead, for example, Employment and Support Allowance.
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Carer’s Allowance
If you get Carer’s Allowance for
looking after another person, your benefit will stop. Carer’s
Allowance will stop being paid when you have been in hospital for
12 weeks. Benefit may stop before 12 weeks if you have had
other breaks from caring in the six months before you go into
hospital.
If someone gets Carer’s Allowance for looking after you, for
example your partner, their benefit will stop after you have been
in hospital for 28 days.
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Means-tested benefits when you are in hospital
If any of the benefits you get is paid because you have low
income and savings, it may go down after 28 days and go down again
or stop after 52 weeks in hospital. For example you will stop being
paid the severe disability premium after 28 days and will stop
being paid the disability premium after 52 weeks. If you are
claiming benefit for your rent, Council Tax, housing costs or for
your partner, see below for how this will change.
The following benefits are paid for your living costs if you
have low income and savings:
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Statutory Sick Pay and Working Tax Credit
If you were working when you became ill, you might be getting
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). SSP will
be paid for the first 28 weeks that you are not able to
work. If you were not working, or were self-employed, you
might be able to apply for Employment and
Support Allowance (ESA). You may also get Working Tax Credit in addition to SSP or
Employment and Support Allowance for the first 28 weeks if your
income and savings are low.
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Benefits to help pay your rent, Council Tax or mortgage/home
loan
If you rent your home and get Housing
Benefit (HB) (HB England, Scotland and Wales) (HB Northern Ireland) or are buying your home and
get help with interest on a loan repayment, your benefit will stop
if you are going to be in hospital for more than 52
weeks. Your Council Tax Benefit will
also stop if you are going to be in hospital for more than 52
weeks.
You should get advice from an expert
benefits adviser if you are going to be in hospital for a long
period of time. If you have a partner they might need to make
a claim for benefit. You can use our Find an Adviser tool to find a local one.
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Benefits and going into hospital
Your partner's or carer’s benefit
Your partner should tell whoever pays them benefits that you
have gone into hospital. The amount of benefit they get may
change if you are likely to be in hospital for more than 52 weeks
or if they are your carer.
Your partner or carer will stop getting Carer’s Allowance once you have been in hospital
for 28 days. You must also tell the people paying your benefits if
your partner starts work, claims another benefit, or has any other
change in circumstances that could affect the amount of benefit you
or they get.
If your partner is getting benefit for you,
for example, Jobseeker’s Allowance, it
might be better for you to claim benefit for them instead when you
are in hospital. For example, you may be able to get
income-related Employment and Support
Allowance for yourself and your partner and they will not have
to look for work whilst you are ill. Get advice if this applies to
you.
If you are going to be in hospital for more
than 52 weeks, your partner might have to claim benefits for
themselves. What benefit they will get will depend on their
circumstances, for example:
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Benefits for your children
You can carry on getting Child Benefit
when you are in hospital as long as you use the money to support
the child and no one else applies for the benefit for your
child. It may be better for someone else to claim Child
Benefit especially if you are going to be in hospital for a long
time. Get advice if this applies to you.
You can carry on getting Child Tax
Credit for a child who normally lives with you when you are not
in hospital. It might be better for someone else, for example the
person looking after your child, to claim Child Tax Credit when you
are in hospital. Get advice if this applies to you.
You can use our Find an Adviser tool
to find a local adviser.
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Benefits when your child is in hospital
If your child usually lives with you but is in hospital, you
will stop getting Child Benefit for them
after they have been in hospital for 84 days.
Child Tax Credit will carry on being
paid for a child who normally lives with you, but who is in
hospital. Benefit may stop if the child is in hospital for a
long period of time. Get advice if this applies to you. You
can use our Find an Adviser tool to find
a local one.
If your child is in hospital and likely to be away from home for
more than 52 weeks, you will stop getting money for them in your
means-tested benefits
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Benefits and going into hospital
Claiming benefits when you go into hospital
If you are not getting any benefits when you
go into hospital, for example, because you were working before you
became ill, you might be able to get benefit when you are in
hospital. If you are not well enough to return to work when
you leave hospital, you can carry on getting benefit for as long as
you meet the conditions for that benefit.
If you were working when you became ill and went into hospital
you might be getting Statutory Sick Pay
(SSP). SSP will be paid for the first 28 weeks that you
are not able to work. You may also get Working Tax Credit for the first 28 weeks if your
income and savings are low.
If you are not entitled to SSP and are not able to work due to
ill health and you are aged under State
Retirement Pension age, you could claim Employment and Support Allowance. If you are a
woman who is aged over State
Pension age or a man who has reached the State
Pension age for a woman who has the same date of birth as
you, you could claim Pension
Credit. Please note that on 6 April 2010 State
Pension age for women started to increase from 60 according to
a schedule which would bring it in line with men's State Pension
age by 2018. For more information see our
guide to the State Pension age changes.
If your income or savings are low enough, these benefits can
also help with payments towards a mortgage or other home
loan. If you rent your home you may get Housing Benefit (HB) (HB England, Scotland and
Wales) (HB Northern Ireland).You may
also get Council Tax Benefit.
If you are terminally ill, there are special
rules for Employment and Support Allowance. You can get benefit
from the first day of sickness and will not have to score points in
a medical examination. You will get Employment and Support
Allowance with a support component from the start of your
claim even if you are in hospital.
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Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance
If you were not getting Disability Living
Allowance (DLA) or Attendance
Allowance when you went into hospital, for example, your need
for care began when you went into hospital, you can make a claim
whilst in hospital. It will not be paid to you until you come
out of hospital.
If you are terminally ill, there are special rules to help you
get Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance. If
your doctors say that you are terminally ill and reasonably
expected to die within six months, you can get the highest rate of
Attendance Allowance or highest rate of care of Disability Living
Allowance straight away. You do not have to have had care needs for
six months (Attendance Allowance) or three months (DLA) before you
claim. You do not have to have been living in the UK for six
months in the last year. You will need to ask your
doctor/healthcare professional for a form called a DS 1500 and fill
in the ‘special rules’ section of the claim form. Another person,
for example your carer, relative or friend, can apply for
Attendance Allowance or Disability Living Allowance under the
special rules for you without your knowledge. If someone else
makes the claim for you, the money will still be paid to you.
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Benefits and going into hospital
Help with the costs of travel to hospital
If you have to visit hospital to attend outpatient appointments
or have treatment, you may be able to get help with your travel
costs and those of a companion (if this is medically necessary)
paid to and from a place where you receive National Health Service
(NHS) treatment.
If you get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit (guarantee credit) or
income-related Employment and Support
Allowance, you can claim back the costs of travel on
form HC5 (link
opens in a new window). You will usually make a claim at the
hospital you are attending. If you get Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, you might also be able to
claim help with travel costs if your gross annual income is £15,276
or less. You can also get help with travel costs if you get a
war or service disablement pension and are going for NHS
treatment for that disability.
If you do not get one of the benefits above but have a low
income, you may get some help with travel costs. You can
apply for help with healthcare costs on form HC1. See the
Government's
Directgov website for more information on how to obtain this form
(link opens in a new window).
You may get help from the Social Fund
with travel costs to visit a relative or friend in hospital if you
get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension
Credit or income-related Employment and Support Allowance. You
can apply to the Social Fund for a Community
Care Grant to meet the costs of travel.
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Discharge from hospital
If you have care needs because of your health
or disability, you should not be discharged from hospital until you
have had an assessment of your continuing health care needs and,
where necessary, of your community care needs.
The help you can get depends on your care
needs. See our information on Community
Care.
If you are not assessed before leaving
hospital, contact your social services department. You can find the
contact details for your local one from
your local council (link opens in a new window).
If you cannot manage financially with the
money you have when you are in hospital, or when you come out of
hospital, you might be eligible for a grant or other help from a
charitable fund. You can search for grants from charitable
funds using our Grants Search database
See the Government's Directgov website for
more
information on leaving hospital (link opens in a new
window).
Age UK have useful
information on going into hospital and discharge procedures (link
opens in a new window)
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Benefits and going into hospital
Frequently Asked Questions
1. I only receive low mobility rate
Disability Living Allowance (DLA). If I need more help at home
after a spell in hospital, can I get a higher rate of DLA and if
so, how do I do this?
To qualify for the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) mobility
or care component, you must have increased mobility and/or care
needs for at least three months before the claim and expect to have
them for at least six months after. If you do expect to have
greater needs for at least a nine month period, you can ask the
Disability Benefit Unit (DBU) (link opens in a new
window) to look again at your DLA claim to see if you can
get a higher rate of benefit. Be careful though as they could
look at your circumstances and decide to take away the benefit you
already have. This would happen if they think the award was
wrong or they think you no longer need guidance and
supervision.
Lower rate mobility is paid because you need guidance and
supervision from another person when walking outdoors. To get
the higher rate of mobility component you must be unable or
virtually unable to walk. When looking at whether you are
virtually unable to walk, the DBU will need to find out how far you
can walk, the manner in which you walk (e.g. with a limp or
shuffling gait), the speed you walk at and the time you are able to
walk without experiencing severe discomfort.
The care component of DLA can be paid if you need attention in
connection with you bodily functions, for example help with:
- washing
- dressing
- attending to personal hygiene
- using the toilet, eating meals
- moving around indoors
- getting into and out of chairs
- using stairs.
The care component can also be paid if you cannot prepare and
cook a main meal for yourself if you have the ingredients at
home.
You can ask for your DLA claim to be looked at again by phoning
or writing to the DBU. They will send you a new form to fill
in to give details of your care and walking difficulties. If
you would like help to fill in the form, a benefits advice service
such as Citizens Advice may be able to help you. You can use our
Find an Adviser tool to find a local
one.
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2. I receive Carer’s Allowance for my mother and she
gets Attendance Allowance. She is going into hospital for several
weeks. Do I have to tell the benefits office about this? How does
it affect my entitlement to Carer’s Allowance?
Your mother will carry on being paid Attendance Allowance for the first 28 days she is
in hospital. If your mother is going to be in hospital for
longer than 28 days, she will need to tell the
Disability Benefits Unit (DBU) (link opens in a new window).
You can contact DBU on her behalf if she is not able to do this
herself.
If your mother’s Attendance Allowance stops being paid, your
Carer’s Allowance will also stop being
paid. You will need to tell the Carer’s
Allowance Unit (link opens in a new window) that your
mother is in hospital and her Attendance Allowance has
stopped. If you get other benefits, for example, Income Support and Housing Benefit
(HB) (HB England, Scotland, Wales)
(HB Northern Ireland), you can carry on
getting the Carer’s Premium paid with those benefits for eight
weeks after Carer’s Allowance stops. You will need to tell the
Jobcentre
Plus office (link opens in a new window) that Carer’s
Allowance has stopped so they can adjust your benefit and avoid
overpaying you.
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3. Can I get help with my travel costs to and from
hospital as an in-patient and outpatient?
If your income is low enough, or you get one of the benefits
mentioned below, you can get help with the costs of travelling to
and from hospital for treatment. If you get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit (guarantee credit) or
income-related Employment and Support
Allowance, you will be able to claim the costs of
travel. You will usually be able to make a claim using form HC
5 at the hospital you are attending. If you get Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, you might also be able to
claim help with travel costs if your gross annual income is £15,276
or less.
If you do not get one of the benefits above but have a low
income, you may get some help with travel costs and other
healthcare charges. You can apply for help with healthcare
costs on form HC1. See the Government's
Directgov website for more information on how to obtain this
form (link opens in a new window).
4. I have been very ill and I have been in hospital for
a long time. I am about to leave and wonder if I qualify for any
benefits or other help because I will be living on my
own.
If you have care needs because of your health
or disability, you should not be discharged from hospital until you
have had an assessment of your continuing health care needs and,
where necessary, of your community care needs. This will usually
involve a hospital social worker and possibly a discharge
coordination team. Help should be provided to help you when you go
home. What is available will depend on your care needs.
The hospital social worker should be able
to advise you further about this or tell you what advisory
services are available within the hospital.
See the Government's Directgov website for more
information on leaving hospital (link opens in a new
window).
Age UK have useful
information on going into hospital and discharge procedures (link
opens in a new window)
Your local council (link opens in a new window) can
provide help through community care services to help you with
personal needs, care, essential equipment or adaptations you
need to live at home. You might have to pay for this,
depending on your financial circumstances.
For more information, see help from the local council (Illness, Injury and
Disability)
If you cannot manage financially with the
money you have when you come out of hospital, you might qualify for
benefits, for example, Attendance
Allowance or Disability Living Allowance. See our
section for people who have an Illness, Injury or Disability.
If you are on a low income, you might also be
eligible for a grant or other help from a charitable fund. You
can search for grants from charitable funds using our Grants Search database.
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This information has been produced by Citizens Advice.
Last updated:26 April 2012
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