Disability Living Allowance

What is Disability Living Allowance (DLA)?

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is for families in England and Wales who need help with the extra costs of looking after a child with additional needs.  DLA helps to meet the extra costs that you might have as a result of your child’s disability. For example, higher utility costs, additional equipment, special diets, and travel costs.

Any child with a long-term health condition, disability, or illness might qualify for DLA. You don’t need to wait for a formal diagnosis to make a claim, although having evidence to support your claim is essential.

You can make a DLA claim for your child if they have a long-term health condition, disability, or developmental disorder which results in them needing substantially more attention, guidance, or supervision than a typically developing child of the same age and sex. They must have had their difficulties for at least 3 months before claiming and be expected to continue having the same difficulties for at least the next 6 months.

Once your child turns 16 they will normally be asked to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) instead of DLA.

There are two components to DLA:

• The care component
• The mobility component

Both are covered on the DLA claim form.

Click the yellow boxes below to find further information about these components:

Who is eligible?

If you have additional costs associated with your child’s needs you can apply for DLA. These costs may include:

• Utility costs – gas and electricity used for extra loads of washing, use of electronic aids, or heating of the house.
• Transport costs – travel costs for attending appointments.
• Dietary requirements – costs for special diets and feeding equipment.
• Assisted technology – costs of purchasing and repairing equipment used for child’s condition.

You can claim your DLA entitlement even if you are working, have savings, or have other money coming in. DLA is tax-free, paid in addition to other benefits and not treated as income, it may also lead to an increase in means-tested benefits and tax credits. You can find further information on extra benefits and help you can get while on DLA here.

Eligibility:

To apply for DLA certain criteria must be met. The person the claim is related to should:

• be under 16
• have a disability, illness, or health condition
• need extra looking after or have walking difficulties
• need much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability
• be in England, Wales, a European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland when you claim – there are some exceptions, such as family members of the Armed Forces
• live in Great Britain for at least 6 of the last 12 months, if over 3 years old
• be habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands
• not be subject to immigration control

You may not think of the child being disabled, but if they need the type of help described above they may qualify for DLA.

They will need to meet all of the eligibility requirements.

How to start a claim

There are two ways to start your claim, by completing an online form or calling a freephone number.

• You can download or complete the online claim form here.
• You can call (0800 121 4600) to request a paper form to be sent to you.

The advantage of applying online is that you can go back and make changes later.

The disadvantage of applying online is that the form must be printed out and posted, and you will only get paid from the date the forms are received by the DWP.

The advantage of requesting a paper form to be sent to you is your claim will start from the date that the call was made.

The disadvantage of requesting a paper form is that it can be more difficult to make changes to the form and save a copy for your reference.

Top Tip: To make the most of both worlds, you can call to request a paper form (meaning your claim will start from that date) but complete an online form (so you can edit and save). If you do this, you will need to make sure you send the date-stamped front page of the paper form along with your printed copy.

The paper form will have 2 dates stamped on the front:

• The first date will be when the form was requested.
• The second date will be 6 weeks later and is the deadline for completing the form.

You will be paid from the date the form was requested providing the DWP receives your claim within the 6-week deadline. DLA cannot be backdated before your claim date.

Top Tip: We recommend posting your claim form using a recorded delivery service and keeping the tracking details! If the DWP are unable to find your form, having the tracking number can help locate it if it goes missing, gets lost in the post, or the DWP loses it!

Natalie’s guidance and top tips

Click on the yellow box to see a DLA claim form with Natalie’s top tips and pointers gained from her experience of successful claims as a welfare advisor:

Supporting Evidence

It is essential to supply evidence that supports the information you have detailed on your claim form.

Examples of supporting evidence are:

• Medical reports
• Prescriptions
• Speech and language assessments
• Psychological reports
• Letters from social workers
• A statement of special educational needs
• Education Healthcare Plan (EHCP)

You can send additional evidence to the DWP after your application, particularly if you are waiting for a medical letter. However, remember you do not need a diagnosis to make a claim.

How much might I get?

The amount you will receive will be detailed in your award letter and depends on the level of need.

These figures change annually. The rates for 2024/2025 are:

Care 

High – £108.55 per week

Middle – £72.65 per week

Low – £28.70 per week

Mobility 

High – £75.75 per week

Low – £28.70 per week

From April 2025, these rates will rise to:

Care 

High – £110.40 per week

Middle – £73.89 per week

Low – £29.19 per week

Mobility 

High – £77.04 per week

Low – £29.19 per week

Timings

The DWP does not have a set target for when you will receive a decision but aims to decide within 8 to 12 weeks. In our experience, it often takes longer than this! If you have been waiting for more than 20 weeks it is advised you call them to chase up.

Once a decision has been made you will receive a letter informing you if your claim has been accepted and if so, detailing the rate and duration of the award. Payments will be received in the bank account of which you detailed in the claim form. You will be paid in 4 weekly intervals.

While the DWP can give an ‘indefinite’ award, these are unusual. Most people will be awarded for a fixed period before needing to renew their application, for example, 3 years.

If your child’s renewal date is coming up soon, the DWP should automatically send you a new pack including the claim form. If you have not received one within 6 months before the award ends, we recommend you contact the DWP. Renewals are treated as a new application, meaning you will need to re-submit all information on the original claim, plus any changes that have happened since the first claim was made.

Mandatory Reconsideration

If you disagree with the decision you can ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR), details of which will be included with your award.

You will need to explain what part of the decision you think is wrong and why. You can include evidence, but this should be new and not already included in your application. You also cannot include any new diagnoses that the assessor was not aware of at the time. In this case, you would need to inform the Disability Service Centre about the change.

You can ask for a mandatory reconsideration by phone, by letter, or by using the mandatory reconsideration form. It’s better if you do this within a month of the date on the decision letter. However, mandatory reconsiderations can be asked for up to 13 months after the date on the decision letter, although you will have to give a reason explaining why the request was delayed.

If you do not agree with the outcome of the MR, you can ask for an appeal. Find further information on appeals and how to challenge decisions successfully in our article, written in partnership with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, on Challenging Decisions.

If you’re unhappy with the way your Disability Living Allowance (DLA)  claim has been dealt with or if you think the decision is taking too long, you can complain to the DWP. The DWP’s website has a guide to their complaints procedure, which you will have to follow.

Further support

We hope this guide has been helpful, but if you would like further support the following can help you:

• WellChild’s Family Welfare Service – if you live in the North-West of England, Natalie can help you apply for disability benefits, grants and more!
• Citizen’s Advice – someone at your nearest Citizens Advice might be able to sit with you and help you with the form, or even fill it in for you.
• Contact – has helpful videos on claiming DLA in a range of languages.

I live in Scotland

Child Disability Payment replaces Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children and young people living in Scotland. You can find further information here.

I live in Northern Ireland

You can claim for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in Northern Ireland, but some of the rules are different. You can find further information here. 

The information in this article was correct at the time of publication but may be subject to change.

If you have any comments, ideas, or suggestions about this article please contact us at [email protected]

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