PIP and DLA — what's the difference?
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is for children under 16 with a disability or health condition that means they need more help or supervision than a child of the same age without the condition.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is for people aged 16 and over. When a young person with SEND turns 16, they may need to transition from DLA to PIP — a separate application with its own assessment criteria.
Both benefits are based on how a person's condition affects their daily life — not on their diagnosis. A child with autism who needs very little support may receive less support than a child with a less severe diagnosis who needs a great deal of help. The evidence you provide about day-to-day impact is what determines the outcome.
💜 Important: This page provides general information only. For specific benefits advice contact Turn2Us (turn2us.org.uk), Citizens Advice, Contact (contact.org.uk) or your local welfare rights service — all offer free specialist advice to families of disabled children.
What do DLA and PIP assessors look for?
Assessors look at how a condition affects daily functioning across specific areas. For DLA (children), these include:
- Personal care — washing, dressing, eating, toileting
- Supervision needs — risk of harm to self or others
- Mobility and getting around
- Communication and social interaction
- Night-time care and supervision
The crucial question is always: how much more help does this child need compared to a child of the same age without their condition? The more specific and detailed your evidence, the stronger your application.
The biggest mistake families make is describing their child's diagnosis rather than its impact. "My child has autism" is not evidence. "My child requires an adult present to manage any change in routine, has meltdowns lasting 45-90 minutes occurring 3-4 times per week, and cannot be left unsupervised due to risk of self-harm" — that is evidence.
Why a sleep diary and daily records make the difference
DLA and PIP decision makers consistently say that detailed diary evidence — a sleep diary, incident log or daily record kept over weeks rather than a summary written at application time — is the most compelling supporting evidence they receive. Starting to record now, even if your application is months away, will significantly strengthen your case.
Helpset tools that help build DLA and PIP evidence
🔥 Meltdown & Incident Tracker — your most important tool
For many families, the frequency and severity of meltdowns or emotional dysregulation episodes is the clearest evidence of supervision needs and daily living impact. The Helpset Meltdown Tracker lets you log each incident with time, trigger, duration, what happened and what support was needed to recover.
Four to six weeks of detailed incident logs — showing frequency, duration and the level of adult support required — provides powerful evidence for both DLA supervision needs and PIP daily living components.
Open Meltdown Tracker → Get the Printable →😴 Sleep Diary — night-time care evidence for DLA
Night-time supervision needs are a significant part of DLA assessments for children with autism and ADHD. A sleep diary kept over 4–8 weeks is one of the strongest pieces of evidence you can provide — showing exactly how often your child wakes, for how long, and what parental intervention was needed each time.
The Helpset Sleep Diary lets you record bedtime, wake times, night wakings and what support was needed. The export function generates a printable summary to include with your DLA or PIP form or send to your child's paediatrician for a supporting letter.
Prefer pen and paper? Our free printable DLA sleep diary is a ready-to-print PDF with daily sheets and a weekly overview, designed to attach straight to your claim.
Open Sleep Diary → Get the Printable →💊 Medication Tracker
Documenting medication, dosage, timing and any side effects provides medical context for your application. If your child requires prompting to take medication, or if medication has significant side effects that impact daily functioning, recording this is relevant evidence.
Open Medication Tracker →🔋 Battery / Energy Tracker
Tracking your child's energy and emotional regulation levels helps demonstrate the cumulative daily impact of their condition. If your child is consistently exhausted or dysregulated after school, or requires significant recovery time after any activity, recording this over time provides evidence of daily living impact.
Open Battery Tracker →😟 Worry Box & Feelings Wheel
For children with significant anxiety, documenting the frequency and nature of anxious thoughts and emotional difficulties provides evidence of mental health impact on daily living. Use these tools with your child and keep records of themes and frequency.
Worry Box → Feelings Wheel →🧠 Brain Dump — parent evidence notes
Use the Brain Dump tool to capture observations quickly as they happen. After a difficult morning getting your child ready for school, after a meltdown, after a night of disrupted sleep — a quick brain dump captures the details before they fade. Over time these notes become a rich evidence base.
Open Brain Dump →How to present your Helpset records as evidence
When submitting your DLA or PIP application or requesting a mandatory reconsideration, include your Helpset records as supporting evidence. Tips for presenting them effectively:
- Print or screenshot 4-8 weeks of records — the longer the period, the more compelling the pattern
- Write a brief cover note for each set of records explaining what they show
- Quantify where possible — "these records show an average of X meltdowns per week, lasting Y minutes each, requiring Z adult support to manage"
- Connect to the DLA/PIP criteria — specifically reference supervision needs, night-time care, daily living activities
- Keep copies of everything you send and note the dates
📋 Useful phrases for DLA/PIP applications
- "As evidenced by the attached incident log, my child requires adult supervision at all times due to risk of..."
- "The attached sleep records show that my child wakes on average X times per night requiring..."
- "My child needs significantly more help than a typical child of the same age with all personal care activities because..."
- "The attached records demonstrate that my child experiences X per week on average, each requiring..."
Getting help with your application
DLA and PIP forms are long and complex. You don't have to complete them alone. These free services can help:
- Contact (contact.org.uk) — specialist charity for families of disabled children, with a helpline and benefits advice
- Turn2Us (turn2us.org.uk) — benefits calculator and adviser finder
- Citizens Advice — free benefits help in person or online
- Cerebra (cerebra.org.uk) — free legal and benefits advice for families of children with brain conditions
- Your local welfare rights service — many councils offer free benefits advice
🔄 If you're refused: Don't give up at the first refusal. DLA and PIP refusals are frequently overturned at mandatory reconsideration or tribunal. Contact Citizens Advice or a welfare rights adviser immediately if your application is refused.
Start recording now — before you apply
The single most valuable thing you can do right now — even if you are months from applying — is start keeping records. The Helpset tools are free, require no login and work on any device. Start the meltdown tracker today. Log tonight's sleep. Keep notes in the brain dump. By the time you apply, you will have a body of evidence that makes your application significantly stronger.
All Helpset tools are completely free — no login, no account, no cost ever.
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