School and nursery evidence for a DLA claim

Updated 6 October 2026 · Checked against GOV.UK and the DLA claim form (DLA1 Child, 10/25)

School and nursery staff may spend hours with your child each week. What they write can back up what you say on the DLA form. This guide goes through the school questions, the statement someone at school can write for you and what to ask for, so the evidence supports your claim.

Why school evidence matters

The DWP decides a DLA claim from the form and the evidence. The form says it may contact your child's professionals, such as an educational psychologist or support worker, for more information. Question 32 also asks for someone at the school it can contact if it needs more.

School evidence helps in two ways. First, it shows the help your child needs during a large part of the day. DWP's guidance for decision makers says supervision or guidance at school can count as attention with bodily functions, the kind of help DLA looks at, as long as it is close and personal. Its example is a special needs helper who monitors a child in lessons and helps them concentrate on the tasks the teacher has set. Second, an independent account of the difficulties you describe can support what you say.

Questions 30 to 37: the school and any plans

Questions 30 to 34 ask for the school or nursery's name and address and for the name, phone number and email of someone the DWP can contact. The form suggests a teacher or support worker who knows your child well. Choose the person who sees most of the help your child needs. That may be the class teacher, the SENCO or a teaching assistant. Tell them you have named them.

Question 35 asks whether it is a mainstream school and question 36 whether it is a specialist school, such as one that supports children with learning difficulties or disabilities. Question 37 asks which reports, plans or statements your child has. You can tick:

• an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP);
• an Individual Education Plan (IEP);
• an Individual Behaviour Plan (IBP);
• a letter, note in lieu or statement of special educational needs from the local authority;
• a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP);
• that you are waiting to hear about one of these;
• that your child has none of them.

If your child has one, send a copy: the form says it may help the DWP decide more quickly, and asks you not to send originals because they cannot be returned. If your child has no plan, tick that box. DLA depends on the help your child needs, not on having a plan.

Question 38: a statement from someone who knows your child

Question 38 gives space for someone who knows your child to describe how their conditions affect daily living and moving around, or the support they give. The form says this can be someone who supports you or helps care for your child, and gives a health professional, social worker, teacher or carer as examples. At school or nursery that could be the class teacher, SENCO, a teaching assistant, a support worker or a nursery key worker.

They write the statement in the box on page 10 and then must fill in the declaration on page 11: signature, name, date, job, phone number, address, relationship to your child and when they last saw your child. Any extra sheet needs your child's full name and National Insurance number and should be signed and dated. Our free school statement template gives a teacher, nursery or SENCO a simple structure to follow.

Question 68: help at school or nursery

Question 68 asks whether your child needs encouragement, prompting or assistance at school or nursery. It then asks whether they need help to:

• go to and use the toilet;
• move safely between lessons;
• change for PE and other school activities;
• eat meals;
• take medicine or manage their therapy;
• communicate.

It also asks, in words, what extra help they need with learning, what their behaviour is like and how they get to and from school or nursery.

The booklet's worked example is a child who needs help to communicate and with learning: they spend 2 days a week in the school's special unit with one-to-one help, and the school gives them exercises to do at home. Its other examples include a child who comes home for medicine or lunch, takes a change of clothes because of frequent accidents, regularly gets into trouble or needs someone to come into school to give medicine.

One booklet example matters a lot: a child who needs extra support that is not available. DWP's guidance says decision makers should consider the help a child needs, not only the help they actually get. So describe support your child needs even if the school cannot provide it. School hours are part of the day on the form, which runs until you go to bed.

What to ask the school for

A general letter saying your child has additional needs adds little. Ask for something specific, dated and signed, with the writer's job title, that covers:

• what help your child needs, in concrete terms (prompting to start tasks, help in the toilet, an adult at lunch, someone to keep them safe at break);
• how often it happens and how long it takes;
• who gives it, such as a one-to-one assistant;
• how your child compares with other children of the same age;
• what happens when the help is not there;
• copies of behaviour records, incident logs, risk assessments or care plans the school already keeps.

Ask the school to describe the help, not to give an opinion on whether your child should get DLA. The DWP decides. If the school writes that your child is doing well, ask whether that is because of the support they get. If it is, ask them to say what that support is.

What not to send

The booklet lists things not to send, including appointment cards or letters, general fact sheets about a condition, information about tests your child is going to have and bus or train tickets. A few more points:

• Send copies only, never originals.
• Do not send CDs, DVDs, memory sticks or any electronic media. The DWP cannot access them.
• Write your child's full name, date of birth and National Insurance number (if they have one) at the top of each page.
• A school report that only covers grades and attendance may say little about the help your child needs.
• Do not hold the form back while you wait for a statement. Say at question 89 what you are waiting for, send what you have and post the rest later to Freepost DWP DLA Child.

If you phoned for the form, send it back within 6 weeks to keep your claim start date. DLA cannot be backdated.

When the DWP contacts the school

The DWP may get in touch with the person you named at question 32. Let them know they may be contacted and, if you are comfortable doing so, share what you wrote at question 68 so the picture matches. Keep a copy of the whole form and everything you send.

If home and school describe your child differently, explain why at question 72 or 89. DWP's guidance recognises that home and school evidence can conflict, for example when medication wears off after school.

If the decision does not reflect the help your child needs, you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date on the decision letter. New school evidence can be part of it. Our free mandatory reconsideration letter generator can help you write the request.

Frequently asked questions