Children with disabilities - can you get extra Child Tax Credit?

If your child has a disability, or if you're responsible for a child with a disability, you may qualify for extra Child Tax Credit.

On this page:

Who can get the extra money?

You can get extra Child Tax Credit if any one of the following applies:

  • Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment is paid for your child
  • your child is registered blind
  • your child came off the blind register in the 28 weeks before you claimed tax credits

You may get an additional payment for your child's severe disability if one of the following is paid for them:

  • Highest Rate Care Component of Disability Living Allowance
  • Enhanced Daily Living Component of Personal Independence Payment

You can still qualify for the extra money even if the Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment stops because your child goes into hospital.

Disability Living Allowance information on GOV.UK (Opens new window)

Personal Independence Payment information on GOV.UK (Opens new window)

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How much will you get?

The amount of extra Child Tax Credit you get depends on how much care your child needs. In this tax year - 6 April 2013 to 5 April 2014 - you could get up to approximately:

  • £3,015 a year, that is around £58 a week, if your child is disabled
  • £4,235 a year, that is around £81 a week, if your child is severely disabled

The amount you get also depends on other money you have coming in.

Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment don't count as income when your tax credits are worked out.

Other benefits like Carer's Allowance do count as income and can reduce your tax credit payments.

To find out more about how much you may get, use the online calculator or call the Tax Credit Helpline.

Tax credits calculator - find out how much you can get

Contact details for the Tax Credit Helpline

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How to claim

If you're not currently getting tax credits

To claim, you'll need to fill in a claim form. You can only get a claim form by ringing the Tax Credit Helpline. You should send in your claim form as soon as you think you qualify for tax credits.

Contact details for the Tax Credit Helpline

If you are already getting tax credits

If you now want to claim extra tax credits because your child has a disability, ring the Tax Credit Helpline. You should do this as soon as you know that one of the payments mentioned in the first section above will be paid for your child. Contact the helpline within one month of finding out, to make sure that you get your payments backdated to the earliest possible date.

Contact details for the Tax Credit Helpline

When your tax credits claim can be backdated

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More useful links

How to claim tax credits

Information about help for caring for a disabled child on GOV.UK (Opens new window)

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