DLA for child

[charlotteself]

Just wondering what others experiences have been with claiming DLA for a child in terms of how long the claim has taken to process.

Also, so I have to wait for that claim to go through before claiming carers allowance? I can't seem to find the info anywhere.

Yes you cannot claim carers allowance until DLA is awarded and it needs to be awarded at at least middle rate care component.
DLA claims at the moment seem to be taking a long time to process. Normally it is around 4-6 weeks, but longer at the moment. It is backdated to the date you apply I believe if awarded.

Sorry I should also have said if the DLA is awarded then you could ask for the carers allowance to be backdated to when the DLA was awarded from, you can backdate carers allowance up to 12 weeks. If you claim Universal credit then carers allowance is deducted pound for pound off Uc but you should also get a carers element added on.

Thank you for this. The internet is an absolute maze when trying to get this kind of info! It's almost like they don't want you to find out what you're entitled to

Unfortunately, it does seem to be taking forever. My son's renewal has been 10 weeks so far but apparently with renewals, they're going by expiry date. Despite getting the claim back to them in April, it seems if someone gets theirs back in June and theirs expires before my son's in mid-July, they'll get theirs sorted first.

For new claims, my other son got his in 5 and a half weeks a few months ago.
I got carer's backdated.
Good luck

@Dabbo103 they've always gone by renewal dates - I never sent my DS back until a week before because of this

@Dabbo103

Unfortunately, it does seem to be taking forever. My son's renewal has been 10 weeks so far but apparently with renewals, they're going by expiry date. Despite getting the claim back to them in April, it seems if someone gets theirs back in June and theirs expires before my son's in mid-July, they'll get theirs sorted first.

For new claims, my other son got his in 5 and a half weeks a few months ago.
I got carer's backdated.
Good luck

Thank you 😊

My son's renewal has been completed. It took the 10 weeks and has been sorted over three weeks before it was due to expire.