How to fill in the DLA form for a child (DLA1A)
The DLA1A is long and asks the same thing in many ways. The decision turns on one idea: how much more help, supervision or watching over your child needs than a child the same age without a disability. These notes walk you through the parts that decide the claim.
- Deadline
- No fixed deadline, but DLA is normally paid only from the date you claim, so claim as soon as you can
- Time to complete
- Allow 2 to 3 hours, plus time to gather reports
- Who it’s for
- Parents and carers claiming DLA for a child under 16.
- Where it applies
- England and Wales
Scotland and Northern Ireland run these benefits themselves, so the form and the office are different there. In Scotland, check Social Security Scotland. In Northern Ireland, check nidirect.
GOV.UK is the official source and is always the most up to date. These copies are provided for convenience.
We’ve put the parts that decide the claim first. The question numbers tell you where each one sits on the form.
Before you start: the test that decides everything
DLA for a child isn’t about the diagnosis. It’s about how much more attention, supervision or watching over your child needs than a child of the same age who doesn’t have a disability. Almost every care question comes back to that comparison, so gather your evidence first and keep a short care diary as you go.
The comparison every care question comes back to
- What they’re really asking
- Whether your child needs substantially more attention, supervision or watching over than a child of the same age without a disability or health condition.
- How to answer it well
- For each care question, describe what your child needs and then add the comparison and the numbers. For example: "A typical 7-year-old dresses themselves; mine needs full physical help and step-by-step prompting for every item, about 20 minutes, every morning, or he leaves the house half-dressed."
- Common mistake
- Describing only a good day, or leaving out the age comparison, so it reads like ordinary parenting rather than extra need.
Special Rules (terminal illness)
If a child isn’t expected to live more than 12 months, the claim is fast-tracked under "special rules" and the highest rate of the care component is awarded automatically, without the usual qualifying period.
Are you claiming under Special Rules?
- What they’re really asking
- Whether the child has a condition they’re not expected to survive.
- How to answer it well
- If a doctor or nurse has provided an SR1 form (it replaced the DS1500), tick yes and send it. This skips the 3-month qualifying period and awards the highest rate care component.
- Common mistake
- Missing this when it applies and waiting months unnecessarily for a standard decision.
About your child’s conditions (Q40 to Q41)
List every condition and difficulty, with the date each began. DLA has a qualifying period: the needs must have existed for the past 3 months and be expected to continue for at least the next 6 months.
Q40 to Q41 - The child’s health conditions or disabilities
- What they’re really asking
- Every diagnosis and difficulty, and how long each has affected daily life, so the decision-maker can apply the 3-months-past and 6-months-future qualifying test.
- How to answer it well
- List everything, including difficulties without a formal diagnosis (sensory needs, sleep, behaviour, continence). Give the date each started. Waiting for a diagnosis doesn’t stop a claim, so describe the needs that exist now.
- Common mistake
- Listing only the main diagnosis and leaving off the day-to-day difficulties that actually create the care needs.
Show the wording on the form
Q40, page 13
Please tell us about the child's health condition or disabilities
Q41, page 14
Does the child use, or have they been prescribed or had an occupational health assessment for any aids or adaptations?
Answer options: No / Yes
Health professionals and evidence (Q23 to Q29)
Name the people who know your child and attach the evidence yourself. Evidence that describes day-to-day needs is worth more than a letter that only confirms a diagnosis.
Naming professionals and sending reports
- What they’re really asking
- Who can confirm your child’s needs, and any reports that back up what you’ve written.
- How to answer it well
- Name the people who see the daily reality (paediatrician, OT, speech and language therapist, SENCO, CAMHS). Attach copies of reports, an EHCP, care plans, and a few days of care diary. Send copies yourself rather than relying on the DWP to chase them.
- Common mistake
- Choosing a consultant who sees your child twice a year over a SENCO or therapist who knows the daily needs.
Stuck on a question? The assistant can help you word it for your child.
Ask the assistantA typical day and night (Q42)
This is the heart of the care component: a walk through everything your child needs from waking to sleeping, and overnight. The decision-maker scores detail, not summaries.
Q42 - Describe a typical day and night
- What they’re really asking
- A blow-by-blow picture of the help, prompting and supervision your child needs across a whole day and night.
- How to answer it well
- Go in order: waking, washing, dressing, eating, medicines, getting to school, after school, bedtime, and the night. For each, say what you do, how long it takes, how often, how many days a week, and what happens without it. Keep a 3 to 7 day diary and refer to it.
- Common mistake
- Writing "needs help with everything" - vague answers score nothing. Specifics and frequency are what count.
Show the wording on the form
Q42, page 15
When the child needs help
Answer options: Majority of days / Changes from day to day
Care needs: day and night (Q54 to Q72)
These questions cover washing, dressing, eating, toileting, medical needs, communication, and supervision to stay safe, plus attention needed overnight. Prompting and watching over count just as much as physical help.
Washing, dressing, eating and toileting
- What they’re really asking
- Whether your child needs help, prompting or supervision with each daily task, and how that compares to a child the same age.
- How to answer it well
- Take each task separately and describe physical help AND prompting. A child who can physically dress but won’t without constant step-by-step prompting still needs help. Add frequency and the age comparison every time.
- Common mistake
- Counting only physical help and ignoring prompting and encouragement, which the rules treat as care.
Supervision to stay safe (daytime)
- What they’re really asking
- Whether your child needs watching over to avoid danger to themselves or others: road sense, impulsivity, meltdowns, running off, no awareness of danger.
- How to answer it well
- Give concrete examples and consequences: runs into roads, no danger awareness, hurts self when distressed. Say how continuous the watching has to be, and what’s happened or nearly happened.
- Common mistake
- Underplaying risk because "nothing serious has happened yet" - it’s the need to watch over that counts, not whether harm occurred.
Q70 - Help needed during the night
- What they’re really asking
- Attention or supervision your child needs at night that a child the same age wouldn’t: waking, settling, toileting, seizures, monitoring.
- How to answer it well
- Say how many times a night, for how long, doing what, and how many nights a week. Night-time attention can lift the care component to the highest rate, so don’t skip it.
- Common mistake
- Treating broken sleep as "just how it is" and not recording it.
Show the wording on the form
Q70, page 32
Due to a health condition or disability do they wake and need assistance or supervision during the night?
Answer options: No / Yes
Mobility needs (Q43 to Q53)
There are two parts. The higher rate (from age 3) is mainly for children who can’t, or virtually can’t, walk, or who meet the strict severe-mental-impairment-with-severe-behaviour route, or are severely sight impaired. The lower rate (from age 5) is for children who need much more guidance or supervision than their peers when walking outdoors.
Higher rate mobility
- What they’re really asking
- Whether your child is unable or virtually unable to walk, or meets the severe mental impairment with severe behavioural problems route, or is severely sight impaired.
- How to answer it well
- For physical difficulty: describe distance before pain or breathlessness, speed, how they walk, and falls. For the behavioural route: it’s a specific legal test with several parts that must all be met - the assistant can check your child against each part.
- Common mistake
- Assuming an autism or ADHD diagnosis alone gives the higher rate. The severe-behaviour route has strict separate conditions.
Lower rate mobility (needs someone with them)
- What they’re really asking
- Whether, aged 5 or over, your child needs more guidance or supervision than other children to walk outdoors in unfamiliar places.
- How to answer it well
- Describe what happens outside: bolts, no road sense, severe anxiety, gets lost, needs constant direction. The test is about unfamiliar routes, so the fact they manage the school run doesn’t count against you.
- Common mistake
- Saying "they can walk fine" and stopping - the lower rate is about needing supervision or guidance, not physical walking.
After you send it
The DWP may decide on the paperwork or ask for more information. If the decision is wrong, you can challenge it - most successful challenges simply add the detail and evidence that were missing first time.
If the decision is wrong
- What they’re really asking
- Whether to challenge a refusal, or a rate you think is too low.
- How to answer it well
- You have 1 month from the decision to ask for a mandatory reconsideration. Add the day-to-day detail and evidence that was missing, rather than starting a fresh claim.
- Common mistake
- Reapplying from scratch instead of challenging - you lose your original date and the chance to fix the existing decision.
Common questions
Yes. DLA is based on the help and supervision your child needs, not on having a label. If your child is waiting for an assessment, describe the day-to-day needs that exist now and send any evidence you have.
No. DLA isn’t means-tested. Your income, savings and whether you work make no difference to a child’s DLA claim.
Send copies of anything that describes your child’s needs: reports from a paediatrician, OT or speech therapist, an EHCP or care plan, a medicines list, and a few days of care diary. Evidence about daily needs is more useful than a letter that only states the diagnosis.
You’ll need 2 to 3 hours, and longer to gather reports. It’s fine to do it in stages. Keeping a short care diary first makes the care questions much quicker to answer well.
You can ask for a mandatory reconsideration within 1 month of the decision. Many awards are won at this stage by adding the detail and evidence that were missing the first time.
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