Aid and Attendance: VA Pay When You Need Help With Daily Life
If your service-connected conditions mean you need another person's help with daily life, VA pays a higher rate called SMC-L. For a Veteran with no dependents it is $4,900.83 a month, about $960 more than the 100% rate (rates effective December 1, 2025).
Who qualifies
You may qualify for SMC-L if, because of service-connected conditions, any of these is true:
- You need help with everyday tasks such as dressing, bathing, eating or using the bathroom
- You need someone to protect you from everyday hazards, for example because of a brain injury or severe mental health condition
- You are permanently bedridden
- You have lost the use of both feet, or one hand and one foot, or are blind in both eyes at VA's level
You don't need full-time care
You don't need all of these, and you don't need full-time care. Regular help is enough.
When your spouse needs the help
If you are rated 30% or more and your spouse needs aid and attendance, VA adds a monthly amount to your pay. At 100% it is $201.41 a month (December 1, 2025 rates); it is smaller at lower ratings. Many Veterans never add it because VA doesn't ask.
Not the same as the pension benefit
VA's pension program has its own "aid and attendance" benefit with income and asset limits. This article is about disability compensation, which has no income limit.
How to ask for it
VA uses VA Form 21-2680, completed by a doctor, to show the need for aid and attendance. For a spouse, the same form documents the spouse's need. If VA denied it within the last year, you can ask for a Higher-Level Review or file a Supplemental Claim with the doctor's form.
How ClaimScope helps
A ClaimScope review flags records that describe help with daily tasks, bedrest or loss of use, and estimates what SMC-L would add. General information, not legal advice. Rates change every December; check VA's current rates.
Apply it to your record
Move from general rules to your actual evidence.
ClaimScope organizes your VA decision, C-file, and medical evidence into issue-specific options, evidence gaps, forms, and back-pay estimates where the record supports one.
Educational information only—not legal or medical advice. Rules and outcomes depend on the record and procedural history. No benefit, rating, effective date, or payment is guaranteed. ClaimScope is independent of the Department of Veterans Affairs.