Disability Living Allowance assessments
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a tax-free benefit for disabled children and adults under the age of 65 to help with extra costs that may be caused by a disability.
For more information about Disability Living Allowance benefits, go to the Government’s website(link is external).
What to Expect
If you make a claim for Disability Living Allowance, you may be asked to have an assessment. This is usually because more information is needed before a decision about the claim can be made by DWP.
The assessment will be carried out by our Healthcare Professional and is likely to be different from what you would expect from a GP or hospital consultant. The Healthcare Professional is not there to diagnose or treat a medical condition but to assess how a condition affects you. To do this, the Healthcare Professional may or may not need to carry out a physical examination.
The Healthcare Professional will gather information from your history. You can bring extra information or medical evidence to the assessment to help the Healthcare Professional with their report. A companion can attend for support and can also supply information.
The Healthcare Professional will discuss your medical history, any medication and activities undertaken in a typical day. This will be recorded but will not be a word-for-word record.
Your verbal consent will be obtained for the physical examination to proceed, should it be necessary. You are encouraged to do only as much of the examination as you feel comfortable with. You will not need to remove items of intimate clothing.
Once the Healthcare Professional has gathered the necessary information, your assessment ends. After your assessment, the Healthcare Professional will review and evaluate the assessment, and complete the Assessment Report for the Decision Maker in DWP. Within the report, they will explain and justify their opinions. The completed report is returned to DWP.
