The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been urged to reduce Child Disability Living Allowance (DLA) awards by 70 per cent for children with mental health conditions, learning difficulties and neurodevelopmental conditions. The recommendation comes from a new report authored by Jean-André Prager, a member of the DWP Timms Review steering group, published by the thinktank Policy Exchange.
Report calls for tightened eligibility and £11.9bn savings
The report argues that child DLA eligibility should be tightened in these three areas, with the authors claiming that a 70 per cent reduction in awards would save £11.9 billion over the first four years. One third of the savings are recommended to be redirected to improve child mental health provision, while the remaining two thirds would be used to reduce the national deficit.
Prager is one of 12 members of the Timms Review steering group, appointed by the review's co-chairs, who were themselves selected by the DWP. The report notes that no open selection process for their appointment has ever been published.
Current DLA structure and eligibility basis
Child DLA consists of two components that act as proxies for additional costs borne by families. The Care Component is paid at three rates (low, medium, high) based on the additional caring requirement compared with a child of the same age. The Mobility Component is paid at two rates (low, high) based on difficulty getting around.
Eligibility is currently based on the impact of a disability on a child's ability to manage their care or mobility, rather than on the specific medical condition. The report questions whether these proxies continue to provide the most appropriate way of identifying children for whom a cash disability benefit is the right form of support.
According to the report, where the principal additional need takes the form of prompting, behavioural management, supervision or motivation, the burden may fall primarily on parental time, vigilance and complexity rather than direct expenditure.
Sharp rise in child DLA recipients since 2010
The number of children in receipt of DLA has grown sharply in recent years. In England and Wales, the number of children awarded DLA grew from 314,000 to 915,000 between 2010 and 2026, an increase of 191 per cent, representing more than 600,000 additional children.
The report also asks the DWP to consider whether the current proxies continue to provide the most appropriate way of identifying those children for whom a cash disability benefit is the right form of support. The recommendations will feed into the ongoing Timms Review, which is examining the future of disability benefits in the UK.
