Who can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment

You can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment if you have both:

• reached State Pension age
• had care needs during the day or night for 6 months or more because of a disability or health condition

You can check your State Pension age on GOV.UK.

You can still apply if:

• you’ve not had care needs for 6 months or more (your award will begin 6 months from when your care needs started if your application is successful)
• you’re waiting for, or do not have, a diagnosis
• you have a terminal illness (there is a separate fast-track application process if you’re terminally ill)

You cannot get Pension Age Disability Payment and Attendance Allowance at the same time.

If you get Attendance Allowance it’ll change to Pension Age Disability Payment. Social Security Scotland will do this for you. You will not have to do anything.

If you get Disability Living Allowance (DLA), you do not need to do anything. Your benefit will move to Social Security Scotland.

Where you live

You can apply for Pension Age Disability Payment now if you live in:

• Aberdeen City
• Argyll and Bute
• Highland
• Orkney
• Shetland

To check if applications are open in your area, use the postcode checker.

If applications are not open in your area, you can apply for Attendance Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Pension Age Disability Payment will be available to every area in Scotland from 22 April 2025.

If you live in a care home

If you live in care home:

• you can apply if you pay all your own care costs
• you cannot usually get Pension Age Disability Payment if a local authority pays for your care
• if a local authority pays for your care, you may apply for Pension Age Disability Payment, but you’ll only get it if you leave the care home

If you do not live in Scotland

From 22 April 2025, you will be able to apply for Pension Age Disability Payment if you both:

• live in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland or Gibraltar
• have a genuine and sufficient link to Scotland

A genuine and sufficient link is where you do not live in Scotland, but have a link to Scotland. For example, you’ve spent a significant part of your life in Scotland.

Find out more about applying if you live in an EEA country, Switzerland or Gibraltar.