No one can start a new adult claim for Disability Living Allowance, but people who already had it can keep it. Here is what it pays in 2026/27, who keeps it and how it fits with your other benefits.
Updated 15 October 2026 · Rates are the official 2026/27 figures
Adult Disability Living Allowance (DLA) pays between £30.30 and £194.60 a week in 2026/27. The care component is £30.30, £76.70 or £114.60 a week and the mobility component is £30.30 or £80.00 a week. You can get one component or both, so the most you can get is £194.60 a week, about £10,119 a year. These are the same amounts as DLA for children, and they are paid tax-free, usually every 4 weeks.
You cannot start a new adult claim. In England and Wales, adult DLA carries on only for people who already had it and were born on or before 8 April 1948, so everyone in that group is now at least 78. If you were born after that date, DWP will write to invite you to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) instead. In Scotland every adult award has moved to Scottish Adult DLA, and Northern Ireland has its own rules, both covered below.
If you are looking up DLA for a child, the weekly amounts are identical, and our sister site DLAexpert covers DLA rates for children and the claim form for parents.
| Component and rate | 2025/26 a week | 2026/27 a week | Every 4 weeks | A year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Care: lowest rate | £29.20 | £30.30 | £121.20 | £1,575.60 |
| Care: middle rate | £73.90 | £76.70 | £306.80 | £3,988.40 |
| Care: highest rate | £110.40 | £114.60 | £458.40 | £5,959.20 |
| Mobility: lower rate | £29.20 | £30.30 | £121.20 | £1,575.60 |
| Mobility: higher rate | £77.05 | £80.00 | £320.00 | £4,160.00 |
| Highest care and higher mobility together | £187.45 | £194.60 | £778.40 | £10,119.20 |
Weekly rates are DWP's official figures for 2025/26 and 2026/27. The 4-weekly and yearly amounts are our arithmetic: the weekly rate multiplied by 4 and by 52. Every other disability benefit rate is on our disability benefit rates 2026/27 page.
Every rate rose by about 3.8% in April 2026. In cash terms the highest care rate went up by £4.20 a week, the higher mobility rate by £2.95, the middle care rate by £2.80 and the lowest care and lower mobility rates by £1.10 each, so the maximum award went from £187.45 to £194.60 a week. The 2027/28 rates had not been published when we checked on 15 October 2026, and we will add them here when they are.
The care component is about the help you need, not the help you actually get. It can be paid even if no one is giving you that care, or if you live alone.
DLA is usually paid every 4 weeks on a Wednesday, into your bank or building society account. If a payday falls on a bank holiday, you are usually paid before it. DLA is tax-free and does not depend on your income or savings. It is paid on top of your State Pension and is normally ignored as income when Pension Credit and Housing Benefit are worked out. Our guide to which benefits are means-tested explains how that works across the other benefits.
It depends on where you live and, in England and Wales, on your date of birth.
| Where you live | Who keeps adult DLA | Everyone else |
|---|---|---|
| England and Wales | People born on or before 8 April 1948 who already get DLA, for as long as they still qualify | Born after 8 April 1948: DWP writes to say when DLA will end and invites a PIP claim |
| Scotland | Every adult award has moved to Scottish Adult DLA, paid by Social Security Scotland | People born on or after 9 April 1948 can choose to apply for Adult Disability Payment instead |
| Northern Ireland | People over State Pension age with a lifetime award, for as long as they still qualify; they are not reassessed for PIP | People aged 16 to State Pension age keep DLA until the Department for Communities writes to invite a PIP claim |
Your DLA will end, but DWP sends a letter first saying when, and unless your circumstances change you do not need to do anything until it arrives. The letter invites you to claim PIP. If you do claim, you need to do it within 28 days. DLA carries on until at least 28 days after the decision on your PIP claim, and if you are awarded PIP, it starts as soon as your DLA payments end.
PIP is a different test, scored with points across twelve everyday activities, so a long-standing DLA award does not carry over automatically. PIPexpert compares the two benefits in its guide to PIP vs DLA, and our guide to DLA to PIP at 16 covers the same handover for young people.
Social Security Scotland began moving adult DLA awards to Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance on 21 March 2025, and gov.uk now says all existing claims have moved. The move was automatic, the care and mobility components are the same and the amount for each one usually stays the same. You cannot apply for it from scratch.
If you were born on or after 9 April 1948, you can choose to apply for Adult Disability Payment instead, but you do not have to. You cannot get both, and because the two benefits have different rules you could get more, less or nothing at all from Adult Disability Payment. mygov.scot advises getting independent advice before you apply. Our sister site ADPexpert explains how Adult Disability Payment is decided.
DLA for adults is run by the Department for Communities, at the same rates as in Great Britain. The age rule is different: it turns on State Pension age rather than a date of birth, as the table above shows.
No. You cannot get DLA at the same time as Attendance Allowance, PIP, Adult Disability Payment or Scottish Adult DLA. Attendance Allowance is only for people of State Pension age or older who do not get DLA, and PIP replaces DLA when it starts. That is also why you are not moved from DLA to Attendance Allowance when you reach State Pension age: if you were born on or before 8 April 1948 and already had DLA, you simply keep it.
For most people there is nothing to gain and something to lose. The care amounts line up: the middle DLA care rate and the lower rate of Attendance Allowance are both £76.70 a week, and the highest DLA care rate and the higher rate of Attendance Allowance are both £114.60. Attendance Allowance has no mobility component, though, so anyone getting DLA mobility would lose up to £80.00 a week, along with the extras that depend on the higher mobility rate, such as the Motability Scheme. There is no Attendance Allowance rate matching the lowest DLA care rate either.
If your care needs have grown, report the change on your DLA instead (see the next section). Our State Pension age guide explains the age line, and AttendanceExpert compares Attendance Allowance and PIP for first-time claims.
You must tell the Disability Service Centre about changes, such as your condition getting better or worse, a stay in hospital or a care home of more than 2 days, plans to go abroad for more than 4 weeks or a medical professional saying you are nearing the end of life. Once you are over State Pension age, DLA can only continue under the award you already have, and the DLA regulations set tighter rules for changing it after 65:
Reporting a change means DWP looks at your award again, and a new decision can lower it as well as raise it. That makes it worth getting advice before you ask for a review only to increase your award. If you do not report a change, you may have to pay back an overpayment or pay a penalty.
Scottish Adult DLA works in a similar way. mygov.scot says that once you have reached State Pension age or 65, whichever is later, you cannot start getting the lowest care rate if your needs change, and you cannot start getting the mobility component or move to a different mobility rate.
If you disagree with a decision about your DLA, you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration. You usually need to do this within one month of the date on your decision letter.
Tell the Disability Service Centre if you go into hospital or a care home for more than 2 days. What happens to your payments then depends on how long you stay and who pays:
The main extras a DLA award can open up in 2026/27:
| Help | Which DLA award counts | Amount and conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Carer's Allowance for someone who looks after you | Middle or highest care rate | £86.45 a week if they care for you at least 35 hours a week and earn £204 a week or less after tax, National Insurance and expenses |
| Severe disability addition in Pension Credit | Middle or highest care rate | £86.05 a week, or £172.10 if you are a couple and you both qualify (see the box below) |
| Pension Credit and Housing Benefit | Any rate | DLA is normally ignored as income when these are worked out |
| Vehicle tax exemption | Higher mobility rate | One vehicle, used for your needs; there is no reduction for the lower mobility rate |
| Motability Scheme | Higher mobility rate | Lease a car, powered wheelchair or scooter |
| Blue Badge (England) | Higher mobility rate | You qualify automatically |
In Scotland carers claim Carer Support Payment instead of Carer's Allowance. In Northern Ireland Carer's Allowance is claimed through nidirect.
The severe disability addition is only paid if no other adult lives with you, apart from a partner and a few exceptions, and if no one is paid Carer's Allowance for looking after you. If you have a partner, you normally both need a qualifying benefit, such as DLA at the middle or highest care rate or Attendance Allowance.
The word that matters is "paid". Carer's Allowance overlaps with the State Pension, so a carer whose State Pension is £86.45 a week or more gets no Carer's Allowance payment. In that case your addition is not affected, and if your carer gets Pension Credit, their claim for Carer's Allowance can add £48.15 a week to it. So where the carer's State Pension is at least that amount, claiming Carer's Allowance usually costs you nothing and can add money. Where Carer's Allowance would actually be paid, weigh it against the £86.05 addition you could lose. Our combination checker shows how Carer's Allowance and State Pension fit together.
Adult DLA is closed to new claims, but we can help with the next step:
If DLA has ended, or for a partner or parent over State Pension age who does not get DLA: ready-to-copy answers for every care question on the AA1 form. Pension Age Disability Payment in Scotland is covered too.
Try one question free →If you were born after 8 April 1948 and DWP has invited you to claim PIP: descriptor-matched wording for every PIP2 question, with a free preview first.
Start with a free preview →Between £30.30 and £194.60 a week. The care component is £30.30, £76.70 or £114.60 a week and the mobility component is £30.30 or £80.00 a week. The rates rose by about 3.8% in April 2026 and are the same as DLA for children.
Not as a new claim. In England and Wales only children under 16 can apply. Adults under State Pension age claim PIP, and people over State Pension age who do not get DLA can claim Attendance Allowance. In Scotland the equivalents are Adult Disability Payment and Pension Age Disability Payment.
In England and Wales, people born on or before 8 April 1948 who already had DLA keep it while they still qualify. In Scotland adult awards have moved to Scottish Adult DLA. In Northern Ireland, people over State Pension age with a lifetime award keep DLA and are not reassessed for PIP.
No. Attendance Allowance is only for people who do not get DLA, PIP, Adult Disability Payment or Scottish Adult DLA. If you already have DLA you keep it instead, and its middle and highest care rates match Attendance Allowance at £76.70 and £114.60 a week.
Not if you were born on or before 8 April 1948. Your DLA carries on for as long as you still qualify, and you are not moved to Attendance Allowance at State Pension age. If you were born after 8 April 1948, DWP will write to say when your DLA will end and invite you to claim PIP.
No. DLA is tax-free, is paid on top of your State Pension and is normally ignored as income for Pension Credit. The middle or highest care rate can also add a severe disability addition of £86.05 a week to Pension Credit if the other conditions are met.
Usually every 4 weeks on a Wednesday, into your bank or building society account. If a payday falls on a bank holiday, you are usually paid before it.
Sources: gov.uk: Disability Living Allowance for adults · DWP: Benefit and pension rates 2026 to 2027 · Social Security (Disability Living Allowance) Regulations 1991, regulations 8 to 12B and Schedule 1 · gov.uk: Carer's Allowance eligibility · gov.uk: Pension Credit, what you'll get · gov.uk: Financial help if you're disabled, vehicles and transport · mygov.scot: Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance · nidirect: Disability Living Allowance for adults