Disability Living Allowance delivers vital support to help families with disabled children meet the additional expenses of these health conditions. It can offer up to £187.45 weekly depending on the child’s requirements, making it a crucial lifeline for families battling to stay afloat during the cost of living crisis. But people seeking the benefit for the first time encounter a mountain of applications ahead of them working through the Department for Work and Pensions system.
Labour MP Julia Buckley challenged what the department is doing to tackle the hold-ups in decision making for these claims. In response, Sir Stephen Timms disclosed that presently families must wait approximately 57 days, almost two months, on average for their claims to complete the application process and for the DWP to reach a decision on their case.
He said in a written response: « We have seen unprecedented demand in new claims to the DLA Child service line. Additional resources have been deployed, and cases are cleared in date order to ensure fair customer service. As a result, we are seeing improvements in our processing times for new claims.
« As of the 30th December 2024, The Actual Average Clearance Time was 97.8 days and has since reduced to 57.3 days as of 25th of August 2025, a reduction of 40.5 days. »
Through the official procedure, applicants should receive a letter or text from the DWP early in the process to confirm their claim form has been received by the department. If more information is needed to assess their application, the DWP may get in touch with claimants.
Once a decision has been reached, the DWP will send out a letter confirming this. This letter will also disclose how much the child can receive and the duration of the payments.
If claimants disagree with the decision, they can request for it to be reviewed through a process known as Mandatory Reconsideration. This can be done via the Disability Living Allowance helpline on 0800 121 4600, by post by writing a letter explaining why you don’t agree with the decision, or by filling out a Mandatory Reconsideration request form.
More information about Mandatory Reconsideration can be found on the Gov.uk website.
To qualify for Disability Living Allowance, the child being claimed for must be under 16 and have difficulties walking or need more care than a child of the same age who doesn’t have a disability. They must also reside in England or Wales unless exceptional circumstances apply when they can claim from abroad such as receiving medical treatment outside of the UK.
There isn’t a specific list of diagnoses or conditions that will make a child eligible for the benefit. Instead, each application is evaluated based on how the condition affects the individual child. More information on Disability Living Allowance requirements can be found on the Gov.uk website.
Regardless of the specific condition, they must have experienced difficulties for at least three months and anticipate them to persist for at least another six months. These rules do not apply to children who are approaching the end of their lives.
