Describe your child's needs the way the DLA form asks

The Disability Living Allowance claim form for a child under 16, called DLA1 Child (the current version is dated 10/25; people often still call it DLA1A Child). The report follows its questions in the form's own order, from question 1 to question 89.

No. DLA is paid for the extra help a child needs, not for the diagnosis. The form says that if there is no diagnosis you should still describe the difficulties. When it asks how long, it means when they started affecting your child's day-to-day life, not the date of diagnosis.

No. The care part is decided on whether your child needs much more looking after than a child of the same age without a disability. The mobility part looks at getting about: from age 3, whether they cannot walk or can only walk a short way without severe discomfort (among other routes); from age 5, whether they need much more guidance or supervision outdoors than other children their age. The report shows an honest likely rate band from your own answers, or "Depends on your details", and never a promise. The DWP decides.

The Full Report (£49.99) goes through the form question by question: what to tick, the numbers to write and lines to adapt for the more information boxes. It explains every area and includes the evidence plan and the day and night care table. Done For You (£99.99) has all of that plus ready-to-copy text for questions 42, 53, 72 and 89, written for your child. It also fills in the health questions (23, 24, 40 and 41) from your notes and adds letters for the GP or paediatrician, the school and the DWP. The Mandatory Reconsideration Pack (£149.99) is for a DLA decision you disagree with: a mandatory reconsideration letter ready to send with your deadline, your grounds part by part from your decision letter, an evidence gap finder and the appeal steps, plus the whole Done For You report. Each is a one-off payment and comes as two PDFs, with a copy by email.

Yes. We use it for one purpose only, to write your child's answers and guidance, and only after you tick the consent box. It travels over an encrypted connection, is not kept on our website servers once the report is written and is never sold. It is shared only with the processors named in our privacy policy. The report is emailed to you, and the sent email stays in our mailbox until you ask us to delete it.

After payment you fill in your child's details and the report is written straight away. It takes a few minutes, so please keep the page open. It is shown on screen, comes as two PDFs and a copy is emailed to you. There are no accounts or logins. A copy stays in your own browser for 24 hours in case you close the tab; after that the email and the PDFs are your copy, so please keep them. Your order link works for 36 hours from payment, for one report.

Yes. First ask the DWP to look at the decision again. This is called a mandatory reconsideration, and you usually need to ask within one month of the date on the decision letter (a later request can be accepted with a good reason). Someone looks at the whole claim again, so the award can go up, stay the same, go down or stop. If you still disagree, you can appeal to a tribunal, usually within one month of the mandatory reconsideration notice. Our free MR letter generator sets out a letter for you to check and send. The Mandatory Reconsideration Pack (£149.99) adds your grounds part by part, an evidence gap finder, the appeal steps and the whole Done For You report. In Northern Ireland you ask on form MR2(NI) and appeal to the Appeals Service.

New claims for children in Scotland are Child Disability Payment from Social Security Scotland, not DLA, so the DLA form does not apply. You can apply online or by phone on 0800 182 2222 (mygov.scot). If you have paid and live in Scotland, write to support@benefitsexpert.co.uk for a refund.

Yes. In Northern Ireland, DLA for children is run by the Department for Communities (Disability and Carers Service, 0800 587 0912) with its own claim form. Its questions follow the same structure. The report uses the question numbers of the form for England and Wales, so check each question's wording against your form.

No, and no one honestly can. The DWP decides every claim on the form and the evidence. DLAexpert helps you describe your child's needs fully and accurately, in the order and words the form asks for.