Yes -- Attendance Allowance is suspended after 28 days in an NHS hospital. This is one of the most common accidental overpayments in the benefits system, because payment does not stop the moment someone is admitted. The 28-day count starts on the first full day of the stay, and payment normally continues right up to day 28. From day 29, Attendance Allowance stops.
If your parent goes into hospital and comes home again before then, nothing changes. If a discharge is followed by a fast readmission, a linking rule can carry the earlier days forward instead of resetting the count to zero -- and this trips up more families than the 28-day rule itself.
Why Attendance Allowance Stops During a Long Hospital Stay
Attendance Allowance exists to help with the extra costs of a disability -- personal care, supervision, the practical cost of needing more help day to day. Once someone has been an NHS inpatient long enough, the reasoning changes: the NHS is now meeting those needs directly and free of charge, so a benefit that would otherwise duplicate that support is paused.
This is not unique to Attendance Allowance. The same principle, often called the hospitalisation rule, also applies to the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). All three are suspended on broadly the same 28-day basis while a claimant is an NHS inpatient, because their underlying purpose -- covering costs the state is no longer expecting the claimant to meet privately -- has temporarily been met another way.
Citizens Advice's guidance on changes of circumstances for Attendance Allowance confirms payment "will stop after you've been in hospital for 28 days," and resumes "as soon as you come out of hospital" -- the entitlement itself is not lost, only paused. Gov.uk's guidance on reporting a change in circumstances confirms a hospital admission must be reported, along with how the stay is being funded.
The 28-Day Rule, Explained
The mechanics are more precise than most families expect.
- Attendance Allowance normally continues to be paid for the first 28 days of a continuous NHS hospital stay, and stops from day 29.
- The day of admission and the day of discharge are not counted individually -- DWP counts full days spent in hospital between the two.
- The claimant, or whoever manages their benefits, must notify DWP of both the admission and the eventual discharge date. A hospital does not do this automatically.
- If your parent is discharged and then readmitted, the linking rule applies: stays are treated as continuous if the gap between them is under 28 days. The count only resets to zero once they have been out of hospital for a full 28 days.
Payment should, in theory, resume automatically from the day after discharge. In practice, many families find it does not restart cleanly, particularly if DWP was not told the discharge date in writing. If a payment is missed after your parent comes home, call the Attendance Allowance helpline rather than waiting to see if it corrects itself -- this is a routine call for DWP, not a complaint.
When the Rule Does NOT Apply
Private hospital stays
The 28-day suspension is built around a hospital stay that is free of charge through the NHS -- the same principle behind the separate 28-day rule for local-authority-funded care homes. A stay in a private hospital, paid for privately or through insurance, does not meet that condition, so Attendance Allowance typically continues to be paid as normal throughout. If your parent's treatment is a mix of NHS and private care, tell DWP exactly how the stay is funded so the right rule is applied.
Outpatient appointments and day cases
A day case or outpatient appointment, where your parent is not admitted overnight, does not count as a hospital stay for this rule. Attendance Allowance is unaffected.
A&E visits and short admissions
An A&E visit, or any admission that ends before day 29, has no effect on Attendance Allowance. Payment continues as normal throughout a short stay, right up to day 28.
What Happens If You Don't Notify DWP
If DWP is not told about a hospital admission and Attendance Allowance keeps being paid past day 28, this becomes an overpayment -- money DWP will ask to be repaid, even though nobody intended to claim incorrectly.
This catches out more families than it should, usually because a hospital admission happens during a crisis, and reporting a change of circumstances is understandably not the first thing on anyone's mind. DWP treats it as the claimant's responsibility to report, not the hospital's.
A few practical steps make this easier to manage:
- Note the exact date of admission as soon as you know your parent will be staying in.
- Call the Attendance Allowance helpline promptly, rather than waiting until the stay is confirmed to be a long one.
- Keep a written record of the call -- date, time and who you spoke to -- in case the payment history is queried later.
If an overpayment has already happened, DWP will usually write to explain the amount and how to repay it. It is worth checking the calculation against your own admission and discharge dates before agreeing to a repayment plan.
How Attendance Allowance Interacts With Hospital-to-Care-Home Transitions
A hospital stay is often the moment a care home decision becomes unavoidable -- a fall, a stroke, a health crisis that makes returning home unsafe. If that is where your family is, it helps to know how the two 28-day rules connect.
If Attendance Allowance has been suspended during the hospital stay and your parent is then discharged straight into a self-funded care home, payment should resume. Self-funders are paying for their own care rather than receiving it free of charge through public funds, so the reasoning behind the suspension no longer applies.
If, instead, the local authority ends up funding the care home place -- because savings have fallen below the means-test threshold, or the placement was arranged directly by the council -- a separate 28-day rule can apply again in that setting. We cover that scenario in full, including exactly what happens to Attendance Allowance in a care home, rather than repeating the detail here.
Understanding whether your parent is likely to end up self-funding or council-funded matters for planning ahead -- our guide to how the care home means test works explains the thresholds involved. And if the hospital stay has turned into an urgent search for a place, our guide on arranging a care home urgently covers who to contact first.
Step-by-Step: What to Do If a Parent Is Admitted to Hospital
- Note the admission date. This is when the 28-day count starts, so write it down as soon as you know.
- Notify DWP promptly. Call the Attendance Allowance helpline, or report the change of circumstances online if that route is available for the benefit in question.
- Ask the ward or discharge team for the discharge date in writing once it is known, so you have a clear record to give DWP.
- If your parent is readmitted shortly after a discharge, tell DWP immediately. This is the situation most likely to cause confusion over the linking rule, and flagging it early avoids an overpayment building up unnoticed.
- Check the next payment after discharge. If Attendance Allowance has not resumed within a reasonable period, contact DWP directly rather than assuming it will correct itself.
If a hospital stay is the first step towards a care home decision, RightCareHome helps families compare care homes using independent CQC, financial stability and staff review data -- so the next decision doesn't have to be made under the same pressure as the last one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Attendance Allowance stop immediately when someone goes into hospital?
No. It continues to be paid for the first 28 days of a stay and is only suspended from day 29 onwards.
Do I need to tell DWP myself, or does the hospital do it?
You, or your parent's appointee or representative, are responsible for notifying DWP. Hospitals do not automatically report admissions to DWP on a claimant's behalf.
Will Attendance Allowance restart automatically after discharge?
It should resume from the day after discharge, but check the next payment date carefully. If a payment is missed, contact the Attendance Allowance helpline rather than waiting for it to correct itself.
Does the same rule apply to Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?
Yes, but not identically. During a hospital stay, both the daily living and mobility components of PIP are usually suspended after 28 days. This is different from a publicly funded care home stay, where typically only the daily living component stops and the mobility component continues -- so check which situation applies rather than assuming the rules are the same.
What if my parent is in a private hospital?
The 28-day NHS suspension rule is built around free NHS treatment. A stay that is privately funded, including through insurance, typically continues without affecting Attendance Allowance -- but tell DWP how the stay is funded so the correct rule is applied.