Disability Living Allowance

 Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a state benefit available to adults and children who need help with their care or with getting around. 

From personal experience it is quite difficult to qualify for this benefit and you would be advised to get the support and help of either your Community Paediatric Nurse, your GP, your hospital Consultant or your Health Visitor when applying.  The forms you will be asked to complete are quite in-depth and each case is looked at individually.   How your case is scored will effect whether you receive DLA and how much you will receive if successful so you need to make sure that you record all relevant details, you really have to put your case across well.  We applied for DLA before we had our daughter’s diagnosis and were turned down.  When our daughter started tube feeding via an NG tube we became eligible for DLA and the Carers Allowance. 

There are two components of DLA, one is for care and one is for mobility for people who have trouble getting around, so the care component is probably most relevant for sufferers of EGID, unless you also have other medical problems.

The care component is split into the higher, middle and lower rate and is awarded according to your personal circumstances.

If you are in receipt of DLA at the middle or higher rate you may also be eligible to receive a Carer’s Allowance.

Applying for DLA is a long drawn out process and takes many weeks for a decision and there are no guarantees that you will be awarded DLA and/or Carer’s Allowance but it doesn’t cost anything to apply and it can make a big difference.

You can access all information regarding DLA and Carer’s Allowance from www.direct.gov.uk or from your local Job Centre Plus or Social Security Office or by contacting the Benefit Enquiry Line on 0800 882200

Please note that should you be awarded any element of the DLA or the Carer’s Allowance you should inform the Tax Credits office as the Carer’s allowance will be included towards the household’s total income. It is also worth noting that very often the credits allowable to a child in receipt of DLA usual increase.

This information is intended as guidance only and is based on personal experience and people applying for these benefits need to make sure that they understand the rules and regulations involved with applying for and receiving these benefits and how they may affect other benefits that applicants may be receiving.