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Apply for Disability Living Allowance for your child

Applies when: early concern — something is not right; on sen support at school; assessment requested — waiting on the decision; the authority refused to assess; assessment underway; plan issued; annual review.

The entitlement

Disability Living Allowance for children under 16 is a non-means-tested benefit for a child who needs more looking after, or has walking difficulties, compared with a child of the same age without a disability. It does not require a diagnosis, and it is entirely separate from the EHC plan process — a family can claim at any point in the journey.

Source: Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children (GOV.UK).

What to do

1. Order the DLA1A claim form by phone or download it from GOV.UK. If you order by phone and return the form within six weeks, the claim runs from the date of the call.

   Source: Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children (GOV.UK).

2. Use a charity guide alongside the form — Contact publishes step-by-step tips on completing it. Describing a typical difficult day carries more weight than listing diagnoses.

   Source: Tips on completing the DLA form (Contact); Contact's DLA guide (Contact).

3. Send evidence you already hold — school notes, appointment letters, anything that shows the extra care your child needs. Do not wait for new reports before claiming.

   Source: Contact's DLA guide (Contact).

What the data shows

The DLA1A claim form runs to around 40 pages — which is why every major charity in this space maintains a guide to filling it in.

Source: Tips on completing the DLA form (Contact).

If this is you

If your child's needs are not visible

Many parents of children with invisible impairments do not think of their child as "disabled" — Contact names this as the main reason child DLA goes unclaimed. The benefit is about extra care needs, not the label.

Source: Contact's DLA guide (Contact).

If the young person is approaching or past 16

DLA ends at 16; the young person is invited to claim Personal Independence Payment instead. The claim does not transfer automatically — the invitation letter matters.

Source: Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children (GOV.UK).

This guide states entitlements and cites the source of every claim. It is not advice about an individual case — for that, contact IPSEA or your local SENDIASS.