You have a disability - can you get extra tax credits?

If you or your partner (if you have one) has a disability and usually work 16 hours or more a week, you may be able to get extra tax credits.

On this page:

Extra payments if you have a disability
If you have a severe disability
How much will you get?
How to claim
Contact the Tax Credit Office
More useful links

Extra payments if you have a disability

To qualify for extra payments, you have to meet all of these conditions:

you must usually work for 16 hours or more a week
you must have a disability that makes it hard for you to get a job
you must be receiving, or have recently received, a qualifying sickness or disability-related benefit

If you're not sure if you qualify, you can:

check the Disability Help Sheet by following the link below
call the Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909

Download the Disability Help Sheet (PDF 117K)

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If you have a severe disability

If you - and/or your partner - get the Highest Rate Care Component of Disability Living Allowance or the Higher Rate of Attendance Allowance, you may qualify for a further amount of tax credits because of your severe disability.

The table below explains when you can qualify for the extra payments if you or your partner (if you have one) has a severe disability.

If…	Who has the severe disability?	Hours you - or your partner - need to work to qualify
You have children	You or your partner	Either you - or your partner - need to normally work 16 hours or more a week.
You, or your partner, get extra tax credits for being aged 50 or over	You or your partner	Either you - or your partner - need to normally work 16 hours or more a week.
You, or your partner, get extra tax credits for having a disability	You or your partner	Either you - or your partner - need to normally work 16 hours or more a week.
None of the above applies	You or your partner	Either you - or your partner - need to normally work 30 or more hours a week.

Get details of Disability Living Allowance rates on the Directgov website (Opens new window)

Get details of Attendance Allowance rates on the Directgov website (Opens new window)

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How much will you get?

In this tax year - 6 April 2009 to 5 April 2010 - on top of your basic Working Tax Credit you could get:

£2,530 a year, that is around £48 a week, if you qualify for extra payments because you have a disability
£1,075 a year, that is around £21 a week if you qualify for extra payments because you have a severe disability
£3,605 a year, that is around £69 a week, if you qualify for both lots of extra payments

If you claim as a couple and both you and your partner have a severe disability, you can qualify for two extra payments of £1,075.

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

Disability Living Allowance doesn'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, call the Tax Credit Helpline on Tel 0845 300 3900 or textphone 0845 300 3909 or use the online questionnaire.

Tax credits questionnaire - find out how much you can get

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How to claim

If you're not currently getting tax credits

If you now think you qualify for extra tax credits because of a disability, you should make a claim as soon as possible.

If you have only just been told that you are entitled to a qualifying disability or sickness benefit you should make a claim within three months of finding out. This is to make sure that you get your payments backdated to the earliest possible date.

To claim, fill in a claim form which you can get by ringing the Tax Credit Helpline.

If you already get tax credits

If you now want to claim extra tax credits because of a disability, ring the Tax Credit Helpline as soon as you know you’re entitled to a qualifying sickness or disability related benefit. You should do this within three months of finding out to make sure that you get your payments backdated to the earliest possible date.

When your tax credits claim can be backdated

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Contact the Tax Credit Office

If you need more help you can call the Tax Credit Helpline which is open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. The numbers you can ring are:

Tel 0845 300 3900
Textphone 0845 300 3909 - if you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment

If you're calling from overseas you can also contact the Tax Credit Office on Tel + 44 289 053 8192.

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