Extra tax credit payments if you’re claiming DLA

3 mins read

Tuesday 5 May 2015

This page was last updated in October 2020

Every year the our helpline talks to a number of parents who are missing out on at least £65 per week because they haven’t told the tax credits office that their child is getting Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

Many families simply aren’t aware that their child tax credit payments are higher if you have a child on DLA. This is because you qualify for an extra payment called the disabled child element of tax credits. This is worth an extra £65 per week for each child who qualifies.

What is the disabled child element?

The disabled child element is an extra amount that is added into your child tax credits award. It is worth an extra £65 per week for each child in your family who qualifies.

Who qualifies for the disabled child element?

You should be getting a disabled child element included in your child tax credit award for each child who is either on DLA or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or who is registered blind.

If a child gets the highest rate of the DLA care component (or the daily living component of PIP at the enhanced rate) you also get a further £26 per week – a payment known as the severely disabled child element.

How do I make sure that I get the disabled child element?

The problem is that the Tax Credits Office won’t know that you should be getting the disabled child element unless you have told them that your child is on DLA or PIP. If you haven’t already let them know, you should do this as soon as possible by telephoning them on 0345 300 3900.

Similarly if your child’s existing award is increased to the highest rate of the care component (or the enhanced rate of daily living under PIP) you need to make sure you tell them in order to get the severely disabled child element.

Your tax credit decision award letters should tell you whether your award includes a disabled child and a severely disabled child element.

Are these extra elements backdated?

Once you tell the Tax Credits Office about your child’s DLA or PIP award, they will increase your payments. However they will only normally backdate the extra payments for a month from the date you first tell them.

The only exception to this is if you tell Tax Credits within one month of getting the DLA/PIP decision. If you do that then the extra tax credits payments will be backdated in line with the DLA/PIP award.

What happens if I get Universal Credit rather than tax credits?

If you get Universal Credit, make sure that you have told the office paying you this benefit if any of the children that you are claiming for are getting DLA or PIP. You will get an additional universal credit payment called the disabled child addition for each dependent child you have on DLA or PIP.

Getting further advice

If you already get DLA and tax credits but aren’t sure if your tax credits award includes a disabled child element call our free helpline for further advice.