Child Disability Payment

Child Disability Payment provides support for the extra costs that a disabled child might have.

Child Disability Payment replaces Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children and young people living in Scotland. 

You can apply for Child Disability Payment for a disabled child under 16. The disability can be mental or physical. 

You can also apply for Child Disability Payment if the disabled child does not have a diagnosis. In such cases, you can tell Social Security Scotland about:

• how they're affected
• any symptoms they may have

Social Security Scotland will pay Child Disability Payment until the child is 18. They can sometimes continue making payments after the child is 18. Find out more about payments. 

Payment components and rates

Child Disability Payment is tax-free and made up of 2 components:

• care
• mobility

Children:

• 3 months old or over may qualify for the care component
• 3 years old or over may qualify for the mobility component

If the child is terminally ill:

• they qualify for the care component from birth
• they’ll also qualify for the mobility component if they’re 3 years old or over

Care component

This has 3 different payment rates:

• lowest
• middle
• highest

Lowest

This is a weekly rate of £28.70 and paid if the child either:

• needs attention from someone, for a significant part of the day, in connection with their bodily functions due to a physical or mental disability
• is 16 or older and, due to a mental or physical disability, is unable to prepare a cooked main meal for themselves

Middle

This is a weekly rate of £72.65 and paid if the child either:

• needs frequent attention from someone during the day, or prolonged or repeated attention at night, in connection with their bodily functions due to a physical or mental disability
• needs continual supervision during the day, or another person to be awake for a prolonged period or at frequent intervals at night, to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others
• gets renal dialysis treatment, during the day or at night, at least twice a week

Highest

This is a weekly rate of £108.55 and paid if the child either:

• needs frequent attention from someone during the day, and prolonged or repeated attention at night, in connection with their bodily functions due to a physical or mental disability
• needs continual supervision during the day, and another person to be awake for a prolonged period or at frequent intervals at night, to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others
• gets renal dialysis treatment, during the day and at night, at least twice a week
• is terminally ill

If you get the highest rate of the care component, you'll also get Child Winter Heating Payment.

Mobility component

There are 2 payment rates for the mobility component:

• lower
• higher

Lower

This is a weekly rate of £28.70 and paid if the child:

• is 5 or over
• can walk, with or without equipment, but most of the time needs guidance or supervision from another person to move around outdoors

Higher

This is a weekly rate of £75.75 and for children 3 and over.

It’s paid if the child either:

• cannot walk, or is virtually unable to move around outdoors due to their disability
• has a severe visual disability or is blind and deaf
• has a severe mental health disability 
• has severe behavioural difficulties, due to a severe mental health disability, and needs supervision during the day and at night to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others
• would experience a serious deterioration in their health from the exertion of walking
• is terminally ill

If the child gets the higher rate mobility component, you can apply to lease an accessible vehicle.