The special services allowance —
the payment many people miss

Most people living with a disability know about the general disability allowance. Far fewer know about its “sister” — the special services allowance: a separate monthly payment made to people who need another person’s help with the activities of daily living. And the most important fact, which surprises almost everyone who hears it for the first time: the special services allowance is paid in addition to the disability allowance — not instead of it.

The result: thousands of people receive a disability allowance and are sure that “this is it, this is what I get” — while a second, no less significant allowance sits waiting for a claim. In this article we explain who qualifies, how the process works, and why preparing properly for the dependency assessment matters so much.

What is the special services allowance?

The allowance is designed to help fund the help that a person with a severe disability needs in order to function at home: help with bathing, dressing, eating, moving around indoors and continence. The allowance is paid in cash — and recipients are free to use it as they need: employing a carer, help from a family member, or any other arrangement.

The allowance is graded by the degree of dependency on others — the greater the dependency, the higher the allowance, up to special supplements for the most severe situations (including a substantial supplement for people on ventilators).

Who is entitled?

The main conditions:

• Age: from 18 up to retirement age (for children there is the disabled child benefit; after retirement age, the long-term care benefit).
• Medical threshold: medical disability percentages at the level set in the Regulations (a different threshold applies to people receiving a disability allowance and to those who are not).
• Dependency on others: needing significant help with the activities of daily living, or constant supervision.
• Place of residence: living in the community (not in an institution providing full care services).

Importantly: people who are not receiving a general disability allowance may also be entitled to the special services allowance — for example people who continue to work despite a severe disability, and therefore do not meet the incapacity condition for the disability allowance. That is exactly one of the groups that most often misses this allowance.

The dependency assessment — the heart of the claim

Unlike the disability allowance, which is decided mainly on documents and a committee, the special services allowance usually involves a dependency assessment — an assessor on behalf of the National Insurance Institute examines (usually during a home visit or an assessment) how much help you actually need with each of the activities of daily living.

And this is where the biggest mistake happens: people, out of a lifetime’s habit of “managing”, understate the difficulty. They say “I dress myself” when in fact it takes 20 minutes with breaks and pain; they say “I bathe myself” when in fact it only happens when someone else is at home, for fear of a fall. The assessment looks at actual functioning — which is why it is essential to describe the difficult day, how long each activity takes, the help you actually receive and the risk when there is no help.

How to prepare properly for the assessment

• Document a week of functioning in advance: what you managed alone, what needed help, how long it took
• Make sure the person who actually helps you (partner, children) is present at the assessment and describes their part
• Do not “push through” especially hard on the day of the assessment — present reality as it is on an ordinary, difficult day
• Have ready the medical documentation that explains the source of the difficulties
• Mention supervision too: if you cannot safely be left alone, that is critical to the assessment

How much is paid? The levels of the allowance

The allowance is paid at three main levels, according to the extent of dependency established in the assessment — from a basic level for people who need substantial help with some activities, up to the highest level for people entirely dependent on others for all the activities of daily living. For the most complex situations there are special supplements, foremost among them a substantial supplement for people on ventilators.

The amounts are updated every year in line with the average wage (they were revised upwards at the start of 2026), and the highest level reaches thousands of shekels a month — alongside the accompanying benefits. The level is set by the dependency assessment, which is why preparing for it directly affects the amount of the allowance, not just whether you qualify at all.

Special services, long-term care and mobility — do not confuse them

Three apparently similar allowances serve different populations, and it is important to know where you belong:

• Special services allowance — for people aged 18 to retirement age who need help with day-to-day functioning.
• Long-term care benefit — for exactly those needs, but after retirement age.
• Mobility allowance — for a limitation in the legs that makes it hard to get around outside the home; assessed by a separate committee and sometimes granted alongside the special services allowance (under certain conditions).

And for children under 18 — the disabled child benefit, on which we have written a separate guide for parents. Anyone who falls between the allowances (for example close to retirement age) should check which route is better for them before filing.

Has your condition worsened? You can ask for a reassessment

As with every allowance, you can apply for a deterioration review if your dependency has increased since the determination — and move to a higher level of allowance. And if the claim was refused, or a level was set that is lower than reality — there is a right of appeal, which is worth exercising with strengthened documentation and better preparation. We have written about that at length in our article on appealing a National Insurance decision.

Common mistakes in special services claims

• Not filing at all — because people do not know two allowances can be received in parallel
• Understating the difficulty at the dependency assessment, out of pride or habit
• Not mentioning the need for supervision — a qualifying component in its own right
• Giving up after a first refusal instead of appealing
• Working with a severe disability — and assuming that working rules out entitlement (it does not necessarily)

The disability allowance compensates for the lost ability to earn. The special services allowance compensates for the help you need in order to function. These are two different entitlements — and anyone entitled to both is entitled to both.

In summary

The special services allowance is one of the most-missed entitlements in the system: a separate monthly allowance, paid in addition to the disability allowance, to people who need help with day-to-day functioning. The key is to know it exists, to file a separate claim, and to prepare properly for the dependency assessment — describing the full reality, without playing it down. If you or a family member need daily help, do not settle for one allowance without checking the other.