Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of the disabled child addition to Universal Credit among eligible claimants.

DWP’s digital Universal Credit (UC) application pathway uses automated prompts to ask claimants proactively whether any children are disabled. Where this is confirmed, the system guides them through the relevant eligibility criteria, helping ensure the correct addition is applied at the point of claim. This is currently the primary mechanism to identify likely eligibility and raise claimant awareness at the point of claiming UC.

Claimants are informed through routine DWP communications of the importance of reporting any changes of circumstances. This would include where a child becomes disabled after the initial claim or a disabled child joins the household.

DWP maintains extensive internal and public‑facing guidance concerning the Disabled Child Addition. This guidance is refreshed and reviewed regularly and enables DWP Staff to answer customer queries, as well as customers to self-serve via gov.uk.