What is it?

If you under 65 and have care or mobility needs due to an illness or disability you may be able to claim Disability Living Allowance.

Disability Living Allowance is made up of two components, a care component and a mobility component. You can qualify for both components or only for one component, depending on the nature of your disability.

If you have some personal care needs at certain parts of the day or cannot make a meal for yourself without assistance you may be entitled to low rate care. The middle rate of care is paid to people who need care during either the day or night and the high rate of care is paid to people who need care during both day and night. The low rate of mobility is paid if you can walk but need assistance and the high rate of mobility is paid if you have great difficulty in walking, cannot walk at all or if you are deaf and blind and need assistance to get around.

If you have paid enough National Insurance contributions and are not entitled to Statutory Sick Pay you may be able to claim contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance. If you are on a low income you may be able to claim Income Support or income-related Employment and Support Allowance. For more information see eligibility conditions for Income Support or eligibility conditions for Employment and Support Allowance.

Can I get it?

If you have an illness or disability that affects your daily life then it is worth finding out whether you can claim additional benefits. Each claim is assessed individually to see whether you meet the eligibility rules and which rate is payable.

Disability Living Allowance is not means-tested so it does not matter what other income or savings you have. You must be aged under 65 to claim it - if you are aged 65 or over then you get Attendance Allowance.

How do I claim?

Disability Living Allowance is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions, who run a confidential telephone service to help people with disabilities. The Benefit Enquiry Line is 0800 88 22 00 (calls are free). The textphone number for deaf and hard-of-hearing people 0800 24 33 55. Alternatively you can claim Disability Living Allowance online using the Department for Work and Pension's eclaims service.

The application form is very long and asks for a lot of personal information. You should get a friend, relative or adviser to help you complete it if possible. Many advice agencies can make an appointment for you to visit them to do this. There may be some sections of the form that you are more comfortable filling in on your own, but a professional adviser is used to dealing with sensitive information and can help you complete the form correctly. For organisations that can help with claiming disability benefits please visit the sites on our more advice page.