If you made a claim for DLA for a child, and you didn't get the result you hoped for, don't give up. In most circumstances, you should challenge the decision.
“We didn’t get an award of DLA at all!”
You may feel that you should just give up. But the DWP is often wrong. It may be that you didn’t explain clearly enough how much more additional help or supervision your child needs than a non-disabled child their age - or you may have done a brilliant job but the DWP may have made the wrong decision anyway.
You may be entitled to a lot more help than you are getting - and everybody should get what the law says they are entitled to. Read How DLA care and mobility components work to check whether your child’s needs should qualify. If you appear to be entitled, ask for a mandatory reconsideration using our tool. You have nothing to lose.
“They’ve given us a lower award for DLA than I think we should get”
Read How DLA care and mobility components work to check you understand the rules correctly for the different rates. If you think your child requires enough additional help to qualify for a higher rate than you’ve been given, you should ask for a mandatory reconsideration using the Advicenow letter tool.
"Why didn’t we get the high rate of DLA care component?"
To get high rate care, your child must meet both the ‘daytime’ and ‘night-time’ conditions or be terminally ill.
To meet the daytime condition your child must need:
● substantially more practical help, encouragement or prompting with daily living tasks than another child of their age frequently throughout the day, or
● supervision throughout the day to keep them or other people safe (when other children of their age would not).
To meet the night-time conditions, your child must need help at night (which means when the rest of the household would otherwise be asleep) for either
● 20 minutes more than another child their age would, or
● at least twice a night (more than another child of their age), or
● need to be supervised throughout the night to keep them or other people safe.
If you have to get up earlier or go to bed later than you otherwise would because of your child’s needs (that other children their age do not have), this counts.
If your child sleeps in your bed because you could not otherwise manage their needs (that other children their age do not have) and sleep yourself, this counts.
It may be that you didn’t explain clearly enough how much more additional help or supervision your child needs than a non-disabled child their age, or you may have done a brilliant job but the DWP may have made the wrong decision anyway.
If you think you should have got high rate care and didn’t, you should ask for a mandatory reconsideration. Use our tool to make it easier for you to explain why you should have got high rate care. Remember to explain what would happen if you didn’t provide the care you do (ie. what would happen if you didn’t get up early, what would happen if you didn’t let the child sleep in your bed etc).
“We got care but no mobility component”
Read How DLA care and mobility components work to be sure you understand the requirements for the different components and the age requirements.
If your child needs substantially more help or supervision to manage unfamiliar journeys that another child of their age would be able to manage, you should be getting at least the lower rate of mobility. (Most children who get high rate mobility are blind, or have a physical disability, but your child might be entitled if they have severe behavioural problems or a severe mental impairment. Contact has an excellent guide.
If you think your child should have got an award for mobility, you should ask for a mandatory reconsideration and explain what additional support or supervision they need and why - what would happen if they didn’t receive this help?
“We had to claim again and they gave us less than they did last time”
If you had to make a renewal claim or had your case reviewed, you may still have a good case for the amount you used to get, but you may not have.
It can be hard to tell because your child may need less help than they did when they were younger, but so do the non-disabled children of the same age that they are being assessed against. Because you are used to it, you may be underestimating the amount of extra care your child needs. If you are in this position, it is particularly useful to get advice (and not from the DWP!) See How to find an adviser to help with your child’s DLA.
If you can’t get to see an adviser, talk it through with a friend who has a non-disabled child of the same age. Often this will help make it clear if you are continuing to provide substantially more care and supervision than other children of that age require.
Read How DLA care and mobility components work to check if you are still entitled to the rate you used to get. If you think you are, you should ask for a mandatory reconsideration. Use our mandatory reconsideration tool.
Is there a risk you will end up with less money?
No – almost certainly not.
When you ask for a mandatory reconsideration they look again at the whole award and, in theory, could lower the award you have. However, this is rare and will only happen if there is evidence that the child needs less help than the DWP initially thought.
Read How DLA care and mobility components work to check you understand the rules correctly for the different rates. If you feel that your child easily meets the criteria for the award they have received, you can assume the risk of the award being lowered is vanishingly small.
