Disability Living Allowance

Many parents are put off claiming Disability Living Allowance because they don’t think of their child as disabled. In fact, the majority of children who get DLA have ‘invisible impairments’. So, if you’d describe your child as having additional needs and are not claiming DLA, you might be missing out on financial support that your child is entitled to.

It’s not just children with obvious physical disabilities who need ‘extra help’. Many of our children need help to make themselves understood, make sense of what’s going on around them, or to manage difficult feelings like anger or anxiety. Some children need ‘hands on’ help, or prompting and encouragement with everyday activities like dressing, washing, and toileting or maybe to learn how to play or get along with other children. Your child may need you to monitor a medical condition, give medication, help to use special equipment, or to carry out a therapy programme. Or perhaps your child needs your help to get out and about or needs you to keep an eye on them to keep safe. All these count as extra help.

Some children need much more help than others of the same age. But even if your child needs extra help with just some of the things we have mentioned, we think it’s worth making a claim for DLA. If your claim is successful DLA is payable in two parts. There are care and mobility components: you can claim either or both and there are rules about what you can claim.

You can claim this part of the benefit if they need extra help with getting around. There are two rates for this:

The lower rate payable from five years

You can claim this if your child needs someone around to keep them safe or someone to help them find their way around. Many primary age children are still learning how to get about and stay safe on streets and in parks near their homes. So, to get this you will need to show how much more help your child needs than others of the same age. Most children meeting the criteria for the lower rate mobility component are likely to have a significant learning or co-ordination difficulty, a communication disorder or some sensory impairment.

The lower rate of the mobility component is currently £26.90 per week.

The higher rate payable from 3 years

You can claim this if your child’s ability to get around is severely restricted by their disability. It is payable to children who are unable to walk or are deemed virtually unable to walk. Many children with Down syndrome, for example, are considered virtually unable to walk because they don’t have the stamina or coordination to walk any distance outdoors at three, though this may change later. Other children meeting this rule are likely to have a severe physical or sensory impairment, a life threatening neurological, cardiac or respiratory disorder.

The higher rate of the mobility component is currently £71 per week.

Claiming the higher rate mobility component under severe mental impairment (SMI) rules from 3 years

The higher rate is also payable to a very small number of children on the grounds of severe mental impairment. These are children who have behaviour that challenges those around them, are already in receipt of the high rate of the care component, and likely to have a diagnosis of severe learning disability and social and communication disorder. You will need to show that your child’s behaviour is so unpredictable, disruptive and extreme that they regularly require someone to physically intervene to prevent self-injury, injury to others or damage to property.

Your child must meet every one of these criteria. It’s never straightforward to claim the higher rate on these grounds because the DWP struggles to understand how to apply this rule appropriately, and the DLA claim pack does not encourage you to give the relevant information.

If you think your child meets these rules, you can explain these needs on the part that asks for extra information about your child’s physical ability to walk. You should be clear that you are claiming under SMI (severe mental impairment) rules. We suggest you type additional notes and add them to the claim pack.

If your child is five, and you want to claim under SMI rules, you should make it absolutely clear that your child is so learning disabled that they are not able to take advantage of guidance and supervision. Be sure to include examples of extreme behaviour that has put you and your child at risk. Include as much supporting evidence as you can, for example school risk assessments, behaviour support plans and of course your child’s EHC plan.

You can get lots of other tips about making a strong DLA claim in our Tips for claiming DLA fact sheet (pdf 700kb)

If your child is coming up to three years old and already receives the care component of DLA at the higher rate, you should be contacted and asked if you wish to make a claim for the mobility component.

If you do get the higher rate for mobility for your child, you may be entitled to additional help with transport and parking. Find out more about getting help with transport and parking.

If your child’s claim for DLA is turned down, or you don’t get the result you expected, don’t give up. You can challenge a non-award or the length of an award. You can also argue that you feel your child should be entitled to a higher rate of either the care or mobility component but be sure to check the criteria first.

The DWP can look at any part of the award again, even a part you are happy with, so it’s important to seek advice before asking for a decision to be looked at again, just to make the best of this opportunity.

Over 50% of decisions are overturned when you ask another decision maker to look at the claim again and nearly 80% of appeals are successful.

You can also ask for a review if your child is receiving the benefit at a lower rate and their condition alters and they need more help, or if the decision was correct at the time but circumstances have changed.

It’s important to act quickly – you only have 28 days from the date on the decision notice to challenge a decision. When you ask another decision maker to look again at the claim, this is called requesting a mandatory reconsideration. The DWP must do this, if you ask. You must go through this process before you can appeal.

Asking for a mandatory reconsideration

The first thing to do is contact the DWP and ask for a Written Statement of Reasons.  This will give you an extra two weeks to tell DWP what you disagree with. If you did not keep a copy of the claim, ask for a copy of everything you’ve submitted so far, as well as any extra reports requested by DWP.

A Written Statement of Reasons should set out in more detail how the DWP arrived at their decision. Having a more detailed written response can make sense of how the DWP came to their first decision.

Making a strong case

Responding to each point in the DWP’s Statement of Reasons, however bizarre, can be a useful way to structure your reply.

Say what it is that you do not agree with and why. It may be that you feel your child should be entitled to the higher rate of the care component rather than the middle rate. Or maybe you disagree with the length of the award.

Go through all the paperwork carefully and think about what would make your claim stronger. Has any evidence been overlooked? Do you need extra reports to support what you say? If you haven’t kept a sleep diary and you’re trying to secure the higher rate of the care component, now’s the time to do it. Write giving detailed reasons why you disagree with the decision and stick to timescales.

You can lodge your mandatory reconsideration request over the phone, but we think it’s worth putting your reasons in writing too. That way you can be sure that there is a written record of all the points you want to make.

The DWP has 13 weeks to look at the claim again. Your right to appeal a DLA decision only arises once a different decision maker has reviewed all the information and you have the outcome in writing. Hopefully, the first decision will be revised in your child’s favour and you won’t need to go to appeal. If it isn’t, all is not lost!

Whether or not the decision is changed, you will get a mandatory reconsideration notice. You will need this to appeal. You now have one calendar month to submit your appeal.

Download our DLA Reconsiderations and appeals fact sheet (pdf 680kb) for more information: