Disability Living Allowance

Over three million people in the UK claim Disability Living Allowance, the purpose of this article is to help people find out more about it, whether you are just thinking about making a claim, already claiming or helping someone to do it, this article details all the requirements and rules, all the rates and forms and how this benefit breaks down into 2 main parts. All the information is right here under clear headings for ease of use, if for any reason you need further assistance there is a helpline below. If you find this resource useful and wish to share it with your friends their are convenient sharing and "like" buttons around which automatically post this article on your chosen social network, it's a great way for sharing content on the web.

Disability Living Allowance | The Facts

Disability Living Allowance was introduced in 1992, replacing Extended Attendance Allowance and Mobility Allowance for people under 65, it enabled more people to claim due to it's less stringent requirements. As it replaced two benefits, it is broken down into two parts which are known as the Mobility Component and the Care Component. It is possible to claim both of these or just one, depending upon your needs, and each one has various rates depending on the extent of your disability. Disability Living Allowance is non-means tested, meaning it is unaffected by earnings or savings, it is non-contributory, meaning you do not have to contribute anything to receive it and it is tax free. It has a yearly expenditure of nearly £12 billion and is being replaced in 2013 by a new benefit called Personal Independence Allowance.

Disability Living Allowance Criteria

Most people (about two thirds of claimants) who claim Disability Living Allowance, claim both the Care Component and the Mobility Component with the remaining third of claimants claiming one or the other, so it is more common to qualify for both and both have separate criteria which you need to fulfill in order to qualify, which is detailed lower down, but before we talk about the components we firstly need to ascertain whether you are eligible to claim disability living allowance at all. So below are the main criteria you must fulfil:

• Be under 65 at time of claiming (if older see Attendance Allowance)
• Must be either mentally or physically disabled and pass a disability test
• Must have been disabled for 3 months and expect it for 6 more months (called Backwards and Forwards Test)
• Must need help with either Mobility or Caring for yourself
• Must be a UK resident and present here and not subject to Immigration control

So assuming you fulfil these criteria which basically says you're disabled and a UK resident and under 65 then you can look to the next part to see whether its the Care or the Mobility component that you need or both, if you are under 65 and are claiming already then this just carries on after 65 but if you are older than 65 and not claiming then you should be looking at Attendance Allowance.

Disability Living Allowance Care Component

The Care Component of Disability Living Allowance is all about not being able to care for yourself properly and it is split into 3 levels of severity each with a progressively higher rate attached. So if you need help with bodily functions (such as eating, washing, dressing, going to the toilet) or you need help preparing a meal, communicating, thinking  and other essential day to day things then you should be looking at claiming the Care component of Disability Living Allowance, the criteria for each levels are:

Lowest Rate

You need to satisfy either of the following criteria:

• For much of the day, you need help with bodily functions (eating, washing, dressing, toielt etc)
• You need help preparing a meal (doesn't apply to under 16's)

Middle Rate

You need to satisfy either of the following criteria:

• Frequent help with bodily functions throughout the day
• Frequent help with bodily functions throughout the night
• Continual supervision to avoid you harming yourself or others throughout the day
• Continual supervision to avoid you harming yourself or others throughout the night

Highest Rate

You need to satisfy either of the following criteria:

• You satisfy one of the day needs and one of the night needs from the middle rate
• You are terminally ill (see Special Rules below)

So that is the criteria for the care component of Disability Living Allowance, for rates see further down the page, next comes the criteria for the Mobility Component.

Disability Living Allowance Mobility Component

The mobility component of Disability Living Allowance is all about having a disability that makes walking difficult, it is split into two levels of severity, which are:

Lower Rate

• If you normally need guidance or supervision when walking outside.

Higher Rate

This is for severe mobility problems and can include:

• If you cannot walk or virtually cannot walk
• If you are missing both feet
• If you are assessed to be 100% disabled through blindness
• If you are assessed to be more than 80% disabled through deafness
• If you are certified as severely sight impaired and aged 3/64 on April the 11th 2011. You must also be between 3/60 and 6/60 on the sight scale and have no peripheral vision and a central field of vision of less than 10 degrees.

So there's a lot of stuff written down about the highest rate of the Mobility Component but what it comes down to really is if you can't realistically walk then you get the higher rate and if you are at the stage of being able, to but definitely needing to be supervised or helped, then you get the lower rate. The amounts paid out at each rate are detailed further down.

Disability Living Allowance for Children

Claiming Disability Living Allowance for children has it's own extra rules in addition to the standard criteria mentioned above.

Care Component of Disability Living Allowance for Children

You can claim the Care Component for your child as soon as the following criteria are satisfied:

• Your child is older than 3 months (unless terminally ill, see special rules below)
• Your Child must need significantly more care than they should do at that age

It should be noted that you can claim before your child is 3 months but you will not receive payments until the 3 month mark (unless special rules apply)

Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance for Children

• To claim the lowest rate of the Mobility Component your Child must be at least 5 years old
• To claim the highest rate of the Mobility Component your child must be at least 3 years old
• Your Child must need significantly more help with mobility than they should do as that age

Disability Living Allowance Special Rules

There are special rules for people who are terminally ill, which means that the person is expected to depart this world within 6 months due to a progressive disease, so if this is the case then special rules apply which means the highest rate of the care component is automatically awarded and, if the criteria of the Mobility Component is met then, you can get this too and fast tracked. It is possible to make a claim on someone's behalf and without them knowing, they will just be sent the award notice and the fact that it was done under special rules is not mentioned in the letter.

Disability Living Allowance Rates

So how much is Disability Living Allowance worth? Well it's paid out at a weekly rate and normally paid out every 4 weeks, straight into your account, which can be a bank account, a building society account, a credit union account or a special post office account known as a POCA. It is possible to assign a helper to help you withdraw the money from a cash machine or branch. The Disability Living Allowance rates, per week, are as follows:

Care Component Rates

Mobility Component Rates

How To Apply for Disability Living Allowance

By now you should have a good idea as to whether you are eligible to claim or not, if you are still unsure, there is a form at the end entitled "Can I Get Disability Living Allowance" that asks you further questions to help you more fully decide if you are eligible. If you are ready to make a claim, then you have a few options to choose from, you can either:

• Claim online
• Download a form from the Internet and fill it out on-screen, print it off and post it
• Download a form from the Internet, print it off, fill it out with a pen and post it

The recommended way is to do it online as this is probably easier for most people and voids the need for stamps and trips to the post box. Another way to get a form is to phone up the Benefits Helpline and get a form sent to you for you to fill out, the phone numbers are below.

Disability Living Allowance Contact

The address to post your claim form to, if you decide to go the postage route is different depending on where you live, there is an interactive tool on the forms, for finding the correct address for you to send it to, alternatively you can call the Benefits Helpline, the numbers are as follows.

Benefits Helpline

The Benefits helpline is for new claims for Disability Living Allowance and is open from 08:30 to 18:30, Monday to Friday, the numbers are free to call.

Benefits Helpline for Northern Ireland

Disability Living Allowance Helpline

This is for existing claims for Disability living Allowance, the opening hours are 07:30 - 18:30 Monday - Friday and the numbers are not free-phone numbers, (the alternative 0117 will be if you have free minutes)

Disability Living Allowance Forms

Below is the selection of Disability Living Allowance forms including the various versions of the DLA 1 and DLA 1 Child form, depending on whether you want to to do it online or any of the other ways. You should pick one you are comfortable with, although the recommended way is the one entitled "DLA 1 Online Form (adult and child)" it avoids postage costs and covers adults and children in one form.

We hope you found this article useful, if you would like to ask any questions please feel free to get in touch, and please consider rating us below, all feedback is taken on board.

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Can I get Disability Living Allowance?

DLA 1 Online Form (child and adult)

DLA 1 Fill Out On-screen (then print)

DLA 1 Child Fill Out On-screen (then print)

DLA 1 Adult Print Off Form (fill out by pen)

DLA 1 Child Print Off Form (fill out by pen)