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Disability Living Allowance

From 10 June 2013, in England, Wales and Scotland, you cannot make a new claim for Disability Living Allowance unless you are under 16. So the information below applies only to: -

  • people under 16
  • people who are already getting Disability Living Allowance
  • people in Northern Ireland.

What is Disability Living Allowance?

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a benefit for disabled people under 65. To get DLA, you must have personal care needs or difficulty with walking (also called mobility) because of either a physical or mental disability. DLA has two parts, the care component and the mobility component. The care component is paid at three rates depending on how often and how much you need care. The mobility component is paid at two rates, depending on how much difficulty you have with walking. Depending on your needs, you may get one component of DLA, or both together.


Who can get Disability Living Allowance?

You can get Disability Living Allowance (DLA) if: -

  • you claim before you are 65, and
  • you have had care needs or mobility needs for at least three months, and
  • you are likely to have these needs for at least another six months.

From 8 April 2013, you can't claim DLA if you're entitled to claim Personal Independence Payment. There is one exception to this rule if, before 7 October 2013, the DWP tells you that your fixed-term award of DLA is coming to an end and you need to claim again in order for it to continue.

If you are already getting DLA when you reach 65, you can continue to get it as long as you still have care or mobility needs or until the DWP asks you to claim PIP instead.

To get DLA, you must have lived in the UK for two years in the last three years.

You can get DLA whether or not you work. Any savings or income you may have doesn't usually affect it.

There is more information about Disability Living Allowance' on the GOV.UK website.

Care Needs

You have care needs if: -

  • you need help with things like eating, washing, getting dressed, going to the toilet or communicating your needs
  • you need someone to supervise you to stop you being a danger to yourself or others
  • you need someone with you when you are on dialysis. You must need to have dialysis at least twice a week. If you're an out-patient, you will only get DLA if no member of the hospital staff helps you with or supervises the treatment
  • you need someone with you to help you lead a normal social life.

You do not actually have to be getting help for your care needs to qualify for DLA. As long as you have a care need, it does not matter whether you are actually getting care.

The care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is paid at three different rates. You get the lower rate if you need help with cooking a main meal or care for a significant part of the day. You get the middle rate if you need frequent care throughout the day or night, or continual supervision throughout the day or night. You can also get the middle rate if you need someone with you while you're on dialysis. You get the higher rate if you need frequent care or supervision throughout the day and night, or if you are terminally ill.

Mobility Needs

The mobility component of DLA is paid at two different rates.

You get the lower rate if you cannot walk outdoors on an unfamiliar route without guidance or supervision from another person for most of the time. This could be because of either a physical or mental disability.

Some examples of when you might be entitled to the lower rate of the mobility component include if you:

  • have mental health problems which affect your ability to walk
  • have learning difficulties and have only learned familiar routes
  • have dementia
  • are blind or partially sighted. However, you will qualify for the higher rate mobility component of DLA if you have a severe visual impairment. The Department for Work and Pensions will make a decision before this date about your entitlement
  • are deaf and have not learned how to cope safely with traffic
  • have epilepsy
  • have panic attacks - but this must be a symptom of a mental disability
  • suffer from phobias, obsessive behaviour or have no sense of danger - but this must be a symptom of a mental disability
  • have severe agoraphobia, that is, a fear of being outside.

You get the higher rate mobility component if you're unable or virtually unable to walk because of pain, the effect on your health or the limitations on your walking. You can only get the higher rate if:

  • your difficulties with walking are caused by a physical disability, or
  • you have severe learning difficulties or severe behavioural problems and you qualify for the higher rate care component.

If you are blind and deaf and you use a guide dog, you will still qualify for the DLA mobility component if you can show that you would need help from another person if you didn't have the dog, or if you were using a new route unfamiliar to the dog.

You will qualify for the higher rate mobility component of DLA if you have a severe visual impairment. The Department for Work and Pensions will make a decision before this date about your entitlement.

Disability Living Allowance for children

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) can be paid for children under 16, but there are extra conditions about their care and mobility needs.

To get the care component of DLA, a child must meet the same conditions as an adult, but they must also show that they need a lot more care or supervision than other children of the same age. For example, a child aged under 16 cannot get the DLA care component just because they are unable to cook a main meal for themselves.

You can make a claim for the care component of DLA as soon as a child is born, but you won't be paid any benefit until the child is three months old. The extra conditions no longer apply when the child reaches the age of 16.

Children under 16 can't get the mobility component of DLA until they are three, for the higher rate, or five, for the lower rate. To get the lower rate, they must also need more help or supervision than other children of the same age. This extra condition no longer applies, once the child reaches the age of 16.

Children under 16 can't make a claim for DLA in their own right - another person, authorised by the Department for Work and Pensions, must make the claim on their behalf.


Disability Living Allowance, change of circumstances and fraud

You may commit a benefit fraud if you give incorrect or misleading information, or fail to report a change of circumstances that could affect your Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Even if you are not committing fraud, you can cause an overpayment that will have to be repaid. Your circumstances can be checked at any time while you are claiming. Benefit fraud is a criminal offence and you can be prosecuted or asked to pay a penalty. If you are being investigated for benefit fraud, your benefit may be suspended.

If your circumstances change so that you think you might be entitled to a higher or lower component of DLA or you think you might be entitled to more than one component when you have just been receiving one, you should tell the Department for Work and Pensions as soon as possible.

If you are worried about whether you might be suspected of fraud, you are under investigation or you have been convicted, or if you have been asked to repay an overpayment of benefit, you should consult a firm of solicitors who specialise in fraud.


Problems with Disability Living Allowance

The problem that many people face is that they declare their capabilities truthfully to begin with but their conditions vary and change so frequently that they it is difficult or impossible to describe the variations and effects of different conditions they and treatment deployed on them. They forget how they described the conditions on their DLA forms and find themselves subject to scrutiny or investigation and accused of lying in the first place or failing to notify a change of circumstances.

Legal Advice - Claimant need to advise changes or circumstance in order to cover themselves against the risk of criminal investigation. A record of contacts need to be made and it needs to be clear which completed form [if any] the claimant is referring to.

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