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Children's Handbook Scotland | 2023/24

9. Disability living allowance

• Who can get disability living allowance
• Disability test: care component
• Disability test: mobility component
• Amount of benefit

Disability living allowance (DLA) is a benefit for people with mobility problems and/or care needs as a result of a disability. DLA is now usually a benefit for claimants aged under 16. DLA is being replaced in Scotland by child disability payment (CDP) (see here). This change started for new claims in Dundee City, Perth and Kinross, and the Western Isles on 26 July 2021 and was rolled out to the rest of Scotland by 22 November 2021. From 22 November 2021, children aged under 16 who normally live in Scotland have not been able to make a new claim for DLA and can claim CDP instead. Children who are already getting DLA are being transferred to CDP without having to make a claim for it. This transfer process started in late 2021.

DLA has two components:

•a care component, paid at either the lowest, middle or highest rate; and
•a mobility component, paid at either the lower or the higher rate.

You can get either the care component or the mobility component, or both. DLA is not means tested and you do not have to have paid any national insurance contributions to get it.

The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the administration of DLA.

Who can get disability living allowance

• Disability test: care component
• Disability test: mobility component

A child can qualify for DLA if:1ss71, 72 and 73 SSCBA 1992

•s/he is under age 16 when you first claim; and
•s/he satisfies certain UK residence and presence conditions, and is not a ‘person subject to immigration control’. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook for details; and
•s/he satisfies the disability test for the care component (see here) and/or the mobility component (see here); and
•s/he has satisfied the disability test for the last three months and is likely to continue to do so for the next six months (unless s/he is terminally ill).

 

1     ss71, 72 and 73 SSCBA 1992 »

Disability test: care component

To get the care component, the child must have a physical or mental disability which means s/he needs the following kind of care from another person. What is important is the help s/he needs rather than the help s/he actually gets.

It can be paid at either the lowest, middle or highest rate.

A child gets the lowest rate if s/he needs attention in connection with bodily functions (see here) for a significant portion of the day. This attention might be given all at once or spread out. It should normally add up to about an hour or more, or be made up of several brief periods.

A child gets the middle rate if s/he needs care either during the day or during the night, but not both. S/he gets the middle rate if s/he meets one (or both) of the day care conditions or one (or both) of the night care conditions.

A child gets the highest rate if s/he needs care both during the day and the night. S/he gets the highest rate if s/he meets one (or both) of the day care conditions and one (or both) of the night care conditions. Alternatively, s/he should get the highest rate if s/he is terminally ill. This means that s/he has a progressive disease and can reasonably be expected to die as a result within six months (expected to increase to 12 months1https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-08/hcws166).

There is no lower age limit for the care component. A child under 16 must show that her/his need for attention or supervision is substantially in excess of the normal needs of other children of the same age without a disability or similar to those of a younger child without a disability.

 

Day care conditions

•A child needs frequent attention throughout the day in connection with her/his bodily functions (see here). This means s/he may qualify if s/he needs help several times (not just once or twice), spread throughout the day. If s/he needs help just in the mornings and evenings, for instance, s/he may get the lowest rate.
•A child needs continual supervision throughout the day in order to avoid substantial danger to her/himself or others. The supervision needs to be frequent or regular, but need not be literally continuous.

 

Night care conditions

•A child needs prolonged or repeated attention at night in connection with her/his bodily functions (see here). S/he should qualify if s/he needs help once in the night for 20 minutes or more. S/he should also qualify if s/he needs help twice in the night (or more often), however long it takes.
•In order to avoid substantial danger to her/himself or others, a child needs another person to be awake at night for a prolonged period (20 minutes or more) or at frequent intervals (three times or more) to watch over her/him.

 

Attention with bodily functions

This is help from someone to do personal things a child cannot do entirely by her/himself. Bodily functions are things like breathing, hearing, seeing, eating, drinking, walking, sitting, sleeping, getting in or out of bed, dressing, undressing, communicating and using the toilet. Any help in connection with an impaired bodily function counts if it involves personal contact (physical or verbal in your presence) and it is reasonably required.

 

1     https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-08/hcws166 »

Disability test: mobility component

A child can get either the lower or higher rate mobility component.

The lower rate is for children who can walk but who need guidance or supervision. A child qualifies if s/he is able to walk, but a mental or physical disability means s/he cannot walk outdoors without guidance or supervision from someone else most of the time.

A child can still qualify if s/he is able to manage on familiar routes. If s/he cannot manage without guidance or supervision on unfamiliar routes, or cannot manage anywhere, s/he should qualify.

The higher rate is for children who cannot walk or have great difficulty walking because of a physical disability. A child qualifies if:

•s/he is unable to walk; or
•s/he has no legs or feet; or
•s/he is virtually unable to walk. This takes account of the distance you can walk before you feel severe discomfort. There is no set distance at which you pass or fail the test. Some people have passed who can walk 100 metres; others have failed who can walk only 50 metres. The speed at which you walk and how you walk also count; or
•the exertion required to walk would lead to a danger to her/his life or could cause a serious deterioration in her/his health; or
•s/he is deaf and blind; or
•s/he is severely visually impaired.

A child who is severely mentally impaired may also qualify if s/he gets the highest rate care component and meets other conditions. This can help a child with severe learning disabilities and disruptive behaviour to get the higher rate mobility component even if s/he is physically able to walk.

A child has to be at least age three to get the higher rate mobility component and at least age five to get the lower rate mobility component. For the lower rate, s/he must need substantially more guidance or supervision than a child of the same age without a disability would normally need.

Amount of benefit

Weekly rate
Care component
Lowest rate	£26.90
Middle rate	£68.10
Highest rate	£101.75
Mobility component
Lower rate	£26.90
Higher rate	£71.00

A child winter heating assistance payment is payable if a child or young person is getting DLA care component at the highest rate. This is an annual payment of £235.70. S/he is eligible for child winter heating assistance if s/he is:1WHACYP(S) Regs

•getting (or would be getting if s/he were not resident in a care home) the highest rate of the care component during the third week of September; and
•aged under 18 or aged 18 and still awaiting an assessment for PIP; and
•resident in Scotland.

 

1     WHACYP(S) Regs »