Benefits for an autistic child

DLA for children is for children under 16 who need much more looking after than a child of the same age without a disability, or who have difficulty getting about. It is not means-tested: your income, your savings and whether you work make no difference to whether you get it or how much. It is paid on top of any other benefits, and it does not count as income for tax credits or Universal Credit.

DLA has two components, and a child can be awarded one or both. The care component is paid at three rates: £30.30 a week (lowest), £76.70 (middle) and £114.60 (highest). The mobility component is paid at two: £30.30 (lower) and £80.00 (higher). Those are the 2026/27 rates and they change each April. The most a child can receive is £194.60 a week.

To qualify, your child must have had these difficulties for at least 3 months and be expected to have them for at least a further 6 months. The wait is waived for a child who is nearing the end of their life.

In Scotland, DLA for children is closed to new claims. The equivalent is Child Disability Payment, run by Social Security Scotland. The rates are identical to DLA — £30.30, £76.70 and £114.60 for care, £30.30 and £80.00 for mobility — and the components and age floors work the same way. Two differences are worth knowing: it runs from 3 months old to 18, rather than stopping at 16, and Social Security Scotland is explicit that you do not need a diagnosis to apply. You can describe your child's symptoms and how they are affected.

In Northern Ireland, DLA for children still exists and is administered by the Disability and Carers Service, not DWP. The rates match Great Britain. The claim form is the DLA1 Child form, the helpline is 0800 587 0912, and claims usually take around 30 working days. As in England and Wales, if you request the form by phone the date of your request becomes your claim date, provided you return the pack within 6 weeks.

Carer's Allowance is £86.45 a week. To get it you must be 16 or over, spend at least 35 hours a week caring, and earn £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses. The person you care for must already be getting a qualifying benefit — for a child, that means the DLA care component at the middle or highest rate, or Child Disability Payment care at the middle or highest rate.

Two rules catch people out. You cannot get Carer's Allowance if you are in full-time education or studying 21 hours a week or more. And only one person can be paid for caring for the same child — if another carer already gets Carer's Allowance, Carer Support Payment, or the Universal Credit carer element for them, you cannot also be paid.

If you already claim Universal Credit, a child with a disability adds an extra amount to your monthly award. There are two rates: £164.79 a month at the lower rate and £514.71 a month at the higher rate.

The higher rate is paid if your child gets the highest rate of the DLA care component, the higher rate of the PIP daily living part, or is blind or severely sight impaired. Any other rate of DLA or PIP gets the lower rate. Note what that means in practice: even the lowest rate of the DLA care component brings in £164.79 a month here.

Separately, if you care at least 35 hours a week for someone who gets a qualifying disability benefit, Universal Credit adds a carer element of £209.34 a month. If you live with a partner and you both care for the same child, only one carer element is paid.

The Motability Scheme lets you exchange the higher rate of the DLA mobility component — £80.00 a week — for the lease of a car, wheelchair-accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair. The allowance is paid straight to Motability instead of to you.

A child can be the scheme's customer while a parent drives: the vehicle is leased on the child's award and named drivers do the driving. Because the higher rate of the mobility component cannot start before a child's third birthday, that is the earliest a Motability lease can begin. You can apply in advance so it starts on the birthday.

In Scotland this runs off Child Disability Payment instead: the higher rate of its mobility component, with the same 12-months-remaining rule.

The Disabled Band Reduction Scheme moves your home down one Council Tax band. It is not means-tested and it is separate from Council Tax Reduction, which is the income-based one. You qualify if someone in the house is disabled and the property has to be bigger than it otherwise would be — an extra bathroom or kitchen the disabled person needs, another room they need, or enough space indoors to use a wheelchair. Northern Ireland has domestic rates rather than Council Tax; the equivalent there is the Disabled Person's Allowance, a 25% reduction on the rates bill.

A Disabled Facilities Grant pays for adapting the home itself — widening doors, ramps and grab rails, a stairlift or level-access shower, a downstairs bedroom, adapted heating and lighting controls. The maximum is £30,000 in England, £36,000 in Wales and £25,000 in Northern Ireland. Scotland has no Disabled Facilities Grant: councils there fund adaptations through the Scheme of Assistance, which must cover at least 80% of the cost (100% if you get certain income-related benefits) with no upper cap. The grant does not affect any benefits you get.

Both go through your local council. For the grant, an occupational therapist will normally visit to work out which adaptations your child actually needs, and that assessment is what the application is built on.

Tax-Free Childcare pays more, and for longer, for a disabled child. The government top-up is £1,000 every 3 months rather than £500 — up to £4,000 a year instead of £2,000 — and it runs until your child is 16 rather than stopping at 11. Those five extra years are worth as much as the doubled rate and are far less widely known.

On free early education: 3 and 4-year-olds get 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, and some 2-year-olds qualify too — including a 2-year-old with an education, health and care plan or in receipt of DLA.

Your council's Family Information Service is the front door for all of this, and for finding childcare that can actually meet your child's needs.