Local Offer - Benefits and Allowances

If your child has been receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA), they will need to apply for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) once they turn 16 years old. Your child will get a letter inviting them to apply for PIP. The letter will be sent:

• shortly after their 16th birthday
• when they leave hospital, if they were in hospital on their 16th birthday
• about 20 weeks before their DLA award ends, if they were awarded DLA under the rules for people who are terminally ill

Your child can apply for PIP even if they have never received DLA. PIP can help with extra living costs for a person who has both:

• a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability
• difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition

You can get PIP even if you’re working, have savings or are getting most other benefits.

PIP is made up of two parts; a daily living part (if you need help with everyday tasks) and a mobility part  (if you need help with getting around). Whether you get one or both parts and how much you get depends on how difficult you find everyday tasks and getting around.

Support with a PIP application

Local services who can support you

• DIAL Doncaster
• Citizens Advice

Online support

• Contact

If your child is awarded middle or high rate DLA, or the daily living component of PIP, then their carer (which may be you as a parent, or another friend or family member) may be eligible to claim Carer’s Allowance.

To qualify for Carer's Allowance, you need to spend at least 35 hours a week caring for someone and meet the full eligibility criteria.

Carers UK have lots of information on their website to help you understand Carer's Allowance. They've also produced this short video to provide you with more information. 

Universal Credit is a monthly benefit payment to help with the cost of living. You may be able to get it if you’re on a low income, out of work or you cannot work. Universal Credit is replacing the following benefits and tax credits:

• Child Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

If your child has been awarded DLA or PIP then you may be entitled to extra money from Universal Credit for your child. This is known as the Disabled Child Element. If you are claiming Child Tax Credit then this extra element is called the disability element - you can check your Tax Credits award letter to see if you have this element on your claim.  

You could get a bursary to help with education-related costs if you’re aged 16 to 19 and:

• studying at a publicly funded school or college in England - not a university
• on a training course, including unpaid work experience

A publicly funded school is one that does not charge you for attending it.

If you're 19 or over, you could also get a bursary if you either:

• are continuing on a course you started aged 16 to 18 (known as being a ’19+ continuer’)
• have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

A bursary is money that you, or your education or training provider, can use to pay for things like:

• clothing, books and other equipment for your course
• transport and lunch on days you study or train

Find out more about 16 to 19 Bursary Fund.

Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) is support to cover the study-related costs you have because of a mental health problem, long-term illness, specific learning difficulty or any other disability.

The type of support and how much you get depends on your individual needs - not your household income. DSA does not have to be paid back.

You must be an undergraduate or postgraduate student (including Open University or distance learning), qualify for student finance from Student Finance England and be studying on a course that lasts at least a year.

The Pupil Support and Passenger Transport Team provide travel assistance to and from mainstream schools, special schools, colleges, and to interim tuition services. The type of travel assistance provided will depend on a pupil's individual circumstances.

Travel assistance may be provided in a number of ways including a place on a coach, minibus, or taxi; or in the form of a zero fare bus pass. 

Find out more about Education Transport in Doncaster.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can help with extra living costs if you have:

• a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability and
• difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition.

You can get PIP even if you’re working, have savings or are getting most other benefits.

There are 2 parts to PIP:

• a daily living part - if you need help with everyday tasks
• a mobility part - if you need help with getting around

Whether you get one or both parts and how much you get depends on how difficult you find everyday tasks and getting around.

Local services who can support you with a PIP application

• DIAL Doncaster
• Citizens Advice

Council Tax assumes two adults (aged 18 and over) are living in your property but in some circumstances you may be entitled to a reduction.

For information on disability or medically related Council Tax discounts, please visit the Council Tax discounts and exemptions webpage.

Housing Benefit is a national benefit that can help to pay part or all of your rent if you are a tenant and on a low income. How much you get depends on your income and circumstances.

Universal Credit has been rolled out across Doncaster and you may have to claim Universal Credit instead of Housing Benefit for help with your rent. However, if you live in sheltered or supported housing which provides you with ‘care, support or supervision’, you may still be able to make a claim for Housing Benefit. 

If you’re ill or disabled, Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) offers you:

Universal Credit is a monthly benefit payment to help with the cost of living. You may be able to get it if you’re on a low income, out of work or you cannot work. Universal Credit is replacing the following benefits and tax credits:

• Child Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

You might get an extra amount of Universal Credit if you have a health condition or disability that limits how much work you can do. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) refers to this as your ‘capability to work’. Visit the GOV.uk website to find out more about health conditions, disability and Universal Credit.