Disability Living Allowance for children

Care part	Weekly rate
Lowest	£24.45
Middle	£61.85
Highest	£92.40

Mobility 

Cost of Living Support Payment

A Cost of Living Support package has been put in place for 2022 that includes one-off payments to those on income related benefits, disabled claimants and pensioners. These payments are intended to provide support with the current rise in the cost of living.

You may be eligible for one, or more, of these Cost of Living Support Payments if you get or had started a claim for Disability Living Allowance for children on 25 May 2022.

Find out more about Cost of Living support

How DLA for children is paid

DLA is usually paid every four weeks. All benefits, pensions and allowances are paid into an account.

• How benefits and pensions are paid

You might qualify for Carer’s Allowance if you spend at least 35 hours a week caring for a child who gets the middle or highest care rate of DLA.

Eligibility

The information is a guide only. Disability and Carers Service can answer any questions you have about claiming and getting Disability Living Allowance.

• Disability and Carers Service 

Usually, to qualify for DLA the child must: 

• be under 16
• need extra looking after or have difficulty walking
• be habitually resident in Northern Ireland
• be in Northern Ireland when they make their claim
• have been in Northern Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Jersey or Guernsey for at least two out of the last three years (the period is 13 weeks for babies under six months old and does not apply at all for people paid under special rules)
• not be under immigration control

There are some exceptions to these conditions if the child is living or coming from an EEA country or Switzerland.

If you and your child are from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you will usually also need settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to claim DLA for your child. The deadline to apply to the scheme was 30 June 2021 for most people, but you might still be able to apply. 

• Check if you can still apply to the EU Settlement Scheme

You can claim DLA for children if you’re in or out of work.

Children under three

A child under six months must have lived in Northern Ireland for at least 13 weeks.

A child aged between six months and three years must have lived in Northern Ireland for at least 26 of the last 156 weeks.

The rules on residence don’t normally apply if a child is terminally ill.

The child’s disability or health condition

The child’s disability or health condition must mean one or both of the following apply:

• they need more looking after than a child of the same age who doesn’t have a disability
• they have difficulty getting about

They must have had this for at least three months and expect it to last for at least six months. If they’re terminally ill (that is, not expected to live more than 12 months), they don’t need to have had this difficulty for three months.

Care needs

The rate the child gets depends on the level of looking after they need, for example:

• lowest rate - help for some of the day or night
• middle rate - frequent help or constant supervision during the day, supervision at night or someone to help while they’re on dialysis
• highest rate - help or supervision throughout both day and night, or they’re terminally ill

Mobility needs

The rate the child gets depends on the level of help they need getting about, for example:

• lowest rate - they can walk but need help and or supervision when outdoors
• highest rate - they can’t walk, can only walk a short distance without severe discomfort, could become very ill if they try to walk or they’re blind, severely sight impaired

If your child receives the highest rate, they may be eligible for help from Motability. For more information visit the Motability website.

SMS messages

When claiming DLA you may receive text messages (SMS) from the Department for Communities (DfC). They will always be clearly marked as DfC and will never ask you to give, or click a link to give, personal information or financial details by message or email.

If you’re concerned or unsure about any text messages (SMS) you receive about DLA you should contact Disability and Carers Service directly. If you suspect you have received a fraudulent message as a scam, contact Disability and Carers Service immediately.

More information is available at scamwiseni

Change of circumstances

Contact the Disability and Carers Service as soon as the child’s circumstances change. This can affect how much they get, for example if their disability gets worse or they go abroad for medical treatment.

Their DLA won’t usually be affected if they go:

• into a residential or nursing care home for less than 28 days
• into a hospital
• abroad for less than 13 weeks
• abroad for less than 26 weeks to get medical treatment for a condition which began before they left

If you use sign language, you might be able to use the video relay service to contact the Disability and Carers Service using British Sign Language (BSL) or Irish Sign Language (ISL). To access the service, go to:

• Disability and Carers Service

How to claim

You can download a claim form, or contact the Disability and Carers Service or your local Jobs and Benefits office.

Contact the Disability and Carers Service

You can call and ask to be sent a claim pack. The date of your phone call will be treated as your date of claim from which DLA can be paid, as long as you send your form back within six weeks of that date.

If you delay making a claim, you may lose out on benefit as DLA cannot be back dated.

• Disability and Carers Service

Download a claim form 

Download a claim form using the link below. When you have filled in the form you can either post it to the Disability and Carers Service or hand it in at your nearest Jobs and Benefits office. 

• DLA child claim form and guidance notes - DLA1

Contact your local Jobs and Benefits office

If you ask for a form from your local Jobs and Benefits office, the date of you asking will be treated as your date of claim from which DLA can be paid - as long as the form you receive is returned within six weeks of that date. If you delay making a claim, you may lose out on benefit.

• Jobs and Benefits offices

Other formats

Call the Disability and Carers Service and ask for other formats such as Braille, large print or audio CD.

Terminal illness

There are special rules if the child is not expected to live more than 12 months, so they can get DLA more quickly. You must:

• fill in a DLA child claim form - DLA1
• include an SR1 medical condition report with your claim form or send it soon after - these are free and a medical professional such as a GP, hospital or hospice doctor or registered nurse, for example, Macmillan nurses or specialist nurses can fill in the SR1

Appeal a decision

If you disagree with a decision, you must usually ask for ‘mandatory reconsideration’ before you appeal.

If you think a decision about your child’s benefit claim is wrong you can ask the Disability and Carers Service to explain it. You can also ask to have the decision reconsidered and if you're still unhappy, you can in most cases, appeal against the decision.

• Appealing against a benefits decision

Benefit over-payments

There are circumstances when you may be paid too much benefit and you will be asked to repay this. To make a repayment contact Debt Management.

If you require further support, contact Debt Management as soon as possible to discuss an affordable repayment plan and other potential options.

When your child turns 16

Your child will need to apply for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) when they turn 16.

Your child will get a letter inviting them to apply for PIP. The letter will be sent:

• shortly after their 16th birthday
• when they leave hospital, if they were in hospital on their 16th birthday
• about 20 weeks before their DLA award ends, if they were awarded DLA under the rules for people who are terminally ill

Your child’s DLA payments will stop unless they apply for PIP by the date given in the letter.

If they apply by the date given in the letter, they’ll continue to receive DLA until their claim is assessed.