Financial Support

What Financial Support is available to Autistic People and their families?
Below are just some of the financial benefits that you maybe entitled too.

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0-15 Years

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Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children may help with the extra costs of looking after a child who:

• is under 16

• has difficulties walking or needs much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability

They will need to meet all the eligibility requirements.
The DLA rate is between £23.60 and £151.40 a week and depends on the level of help the child needs.

Disabled Child Element of Child Tax Credit. If you are claiming DLA for your child, you may be able to claim additional support through the disabled child element of Child Tax Credit.

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Post-16/Adults

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Post-16/AdultsBenefit entitlement changes when a child turns 16 and again when a young person leaves education. One of the most important changes is the switch from children’s to adults' benefits. This happens between the ages of 16 and 20 depending on your circumstances.

• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) helps with some of the extra costs caused by long-term ill-health or a disability if you’re aged 16 to 64.

• Disabled Students Allowance is offered to higher education students who have a long-term health condition, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty.

• Universal Credit (UC) is a means-tested benefit for people who have a low income or no income and whose savings are below £16,000. It is for people aged between 18 and pension credit age, including people who are carers, parents, people in work, people looking for work and people who cannot work due to their condition or disability.

 

Parents/​Carers

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• Carer’s Allowance - If you are awarded DLA for your child, you may also be able to claim Carers Allowance for yourself. You could receive additional financial support each week if you care for someone at least 35 hours a week and they get certain benefits.

• Carers Trust - provides information about grants, funds, and charities that may be able to help if you or the person you care for require extra help to pay for something.

• Universal Credit (UC) is a means-tested benefit for people who have a low income or no income and whose savings are below £16,000. If you qualify for Universal Credit and care for a disabled child, severely disabled child or a severely disabled adult for more than 35 hours a week, then you may be entitled to an additional payment. National money advice charity Turn2us has a guide to the additional element of Universal Credit on their website.   

• GP Carer Breaks Payments are one-off payments authorised by a carer's doctor (GP) in order to provide them with a respite from their caring role.