Financial support for those with SEND

If your child has special educational needs and/or a disability (SEND) you may be entitled to some extra financial support. Some sources of support are only available to those with SEND.

Disability Living Allowance

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is provided by the government to help with the additional costs faced by disabled children. It is one of the main source of financial support.

Your child may qualify for DLA if they have a physical disability and/or SEN, and require more help or supervision, than other children of the same age.

For children over the age of 16, DLA has been replaced by Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

There are two parts to DLA: care and mobility.

Usually, you can claim for the care component when your child is aged three months and for the mobility component when they are three years old, although in some circumstances you can claim earlier.

When completing your application, it is important to include as much detail as possible to ensure you receive the right amount.

Some two-year-olds can get free childcare and education. This includes two-year-olds who are in receipt of disability living allowance. It also includes families on some income-based benefits, including working families on low incomes.

For more information and to find out how to apply.

Disabled child element of Child Tax Credit

If you are already claiming DLA for your child, you may also be able to claim the disabled child element of Child Tax Credit.

This is made up of 2 parts:

• The disabled child element  – for each child in the family claiming DLA or who is registered blind
• The severely disabled child element – for each child in the family claiming the highest rate care part of DLA

Click here for further information about claiming Child Tax Credit.

Carers Allowance

If your child is on the care component of Disability Living Allowance at the middle or highest rate you might be able to get Carers Allowance. It is one of the main benefits for carers.

Carers allowance is not means tested so it doesn’t matter what savings you have but you can only get carers allowance if your earnings after deductions are below the threshold. You can calculate if you are eligible using the government website.

For more information on carers allowance.

Help with childcare costs

There are various offers of childcare support available to families depending on the age of your child and your individual circumstances.

Find out more on the Childcare Choices website and check what support you could be eligible for by using the eligibility checker under ‘Find the options available to you’ on the Childcare Choices website.

Tax-free childcare

Tax Free Childcare is a government scheme to support working parents with childcare costs.

You can use the childcare calculator to find out what help you could be entitled to and to help you decide what options suit your family best.