One-in-four disabled children fall out of the disability benefits system as they approach adulthood, according to new research from the Resolution Foundation.
The report Growing pressures explored the growing number of children aged under 16 who have a disability and how this has impacted on the benefits system.
It found that over the last decade, the number of under-16s in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) in England and Wales has doubled, reaching 682,000 in 2023, equivalent to one-in-sixteen children. The cost of DLA to the public purse is set to reach £6.4 billion by 2028-29, having doubled to £4.0 billion in 2023-24 from £1.9 billion in 2013-14.
It says that the growing caseload has been driven almost entirely by awards made to children whose main condition is either a learning difficulty, behavioural disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In 2023, four-fifths of all Child DLA awards were for children whose main condition was one of these three.
Child DLA is the main benefit in England and Wales today for children aged under 16 who have a health condition or disability. It is paid to their parents or guardians and is designed to reflect the extra costs associated with caring for children aged 0-15 who have a disability.
The researchers say that although there has been an upsurge in Child DLA awards over the past decade, this does not reflect an increase in children being awarded DLA for less-disabling conditions. Instead, the majority of children in receipt of Child DLA are deemed as having significant care needs that affect their day-to-day life.
The biggest increase is for the middle rate care element, which has grown from 178,000 to 383,000 over the past decade (up 116%), with the highest care rate increasing from 136,000 to 272,000 (up 100%). For the mobility component, there has been no increase in the number of cases that include a mobility element at the highest rate: there were 55,000 cases in both 2013 and 2023. The lower mobility rate has increased from 186,000 to 460,000 over the past decade (a rise of 147%).
The report also examined the impact on working-age disability benefit spending and found that in 2023, more than four-fifths of initial Child DLA-to-PIP reassessments led to a PIP award. However 13% of those receiving Child DLA in 2022 did not go on to make a PIP claim. As a result, the number of young people in receipt of disability benefits falls by more than one-quarter between the ages of 15 and 17 years.
The authors suggest that at the cusp of adulthood, a smoother transition between the two benefit systems would clearly be ideal as there are reasons to think the transition from Child DLA to PIP may be particularly difficult. This could because Child DLA is claimed by parents because they are caring for a child with a disability, but PIP has to be claimed by the young adult themselves.
They added: “Clearly, most young people will have little experience of engaging with formal processes at this age; although parents or guardians can be made ‘appointees’, this does not happen automatically. Moreover, the PIP application process is very different to that for Child DLA: the Child DLA application is paper-based, while the majority (81%) of PIP applications involve a face-to-face or telephone assessment. Given the known difficulties that adults have claiming PIP, we should not be surprised if these were even greater for 16-year-olds at the cusp of adulthood.”
There are major cash implications of no longer receiving disability benefits – someone receiving Child DLA but not PIP could see their income fall by at least £124 a month – the drop off in claims could hurt young people’s living standards at a crucial stage of their lives, as they prepare to move into higher education or the world of work.
The Foundation says that the rising caseload of disability claims among children and adults alike has fiscal implications that the Government rightly wants to address. However, a sustainable solution will require tackling the underlying prevalence of disability, rather than simply focusing on the generosity and eligibility of benefits.
Louise Murphy, Senior Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “The rising prevalence of disability across Britain is driving up the number of children awarded disability benefits, and that increase is most stark among older children. 15 and 16 year olds today are more likely to receive disability benefits than people in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
“But while children are more likely to claim disability benefits than in the past, around one-in-four fall out of the disability benefits system as they approach adulthood. There may be positive reasons for no longer claiming support, but it is a huge worry if young people are leaving the benefits system and missing out on support at the arbitrary cut-off point of age 16, rather than when their condition changes.
“It is understandable that politicians want to reduce the rise in disability benefit spending. But to do that they will need to understand and address the root causes of rising disability among children.”
