Child Disability Payment decision making guide

Common definitions

Period throughout which

The “period throughout which” (CDP regs, reg. 11(1)) refers to the period when a person due to their physical or mental disability meets any of any of the following care component criteria:

  • they require attention from another person for a significant portion of the day in connection with their bodily functions
  • they are aged 16 or older and are unable to prepare a cooked main meal for themselves if they have the ingredients
  • they require throughout the day frequent attention in connection with their bodily functions, or continual supervision from another person to avoid substantial danger to themselves or others
  • they require prolonged or repeated attention throughout the night1 from another person in
    connection with their bodily functions. Or, if another person requires to be awake for a prolonged period of time, or at frequent intervals to watch over them to avoid substantial danger to themselves, or others.

In addition to meeting the care component criteria, the individual must have met and are deemed likely to meet this criteria during the relevant time period. This is known as the backwards and forwards test (CDP regs, reg. 11(3))

The case manager should both:

  • take a broad view by looking at the whole period
  • determine if the individual can fairly be described as satisfying the entitlement criteria.

This does not mean that the individual requires care:

  • on any particular day and/or night
  • on a specific number of days and/or nights each week
  • more than 50% of the time.

Taking the whole period into account

  • means considering how the individual meets the entitlement criteria over the whole period
  • involves making an exercise of judgement, taking into account all of the supporting information
  • does not mean just calculating how often the individual requires care to determine entitlement.

So severely physically or mentally disabled

To qualify for the care component, the individual must be “so severely disabled physically or mentally” that they need attention or supervision from another person (CDP regs, reg. 11(1)(a),(c),(d)).

There is also a separate test for an individual who is 16 years old or older and who does not require attention or supervision from another person. The individual can meet the care component criteria if they are unable to prepare a cooked main meal for themselves if they have the ingredients (CDP regs, reg. 11(1)(b)) due to their
physical or mental disability. This is not a test of cooking ability. Instead, it looks at whether an individual can plan a complex activity and complete that activity safely.

Supporting information from healthcare professionals involved in the individual’s care or treatment:

  • is important and useful
  • may not always be readily available.

Case managers usually request one piece of supporting information from a professional. However, the lack of a diagnosis does not prevent an individual from being awarded CDP.

Please see the Gathering Supporting Information chapter for more information Case managers should consider both if:

  • the individual has a physical or mental disability
  • the impact of that disability means that the individual meets the eligibility criteria for CDP.

References to “severely” do not refer to the severity of the individual’s condition. They refer to the severity of the consequences of the individual’s disability. This means the severity of the needs that result from having that disability.

Needs substantially more than would be expected

This section applies only to individuals under age 16 (CDP regs, reg. 11(4)).

The individual’s need for attention or supervision either:

  • must be substantially more than would be expected for a person of the same age (CDP regs, reg. 11(2))
  • would normally be associated with a person of a younger age, without a health condition or
    disability but not with a person of the individual’s age (CDP regs, reg. 11(2)).

To determine whether an individual is in need of more attention or supervision than would be expected
for their age please visit NHS Ages and Stages website.

Reasonably required

The attention or supervision that an individual needs must be reasonably required (CDP regs, reg. 11(8))

This means considering all the circumstances of an individual case, including:

  • supporting information
  • the nature of the individual’s health condition and how it affects their bodily functions
  • how often attention or supervision is required and for how long
  • whether there is an aid or appliance that the individual could use to manage a bodily function independently.

Reasonably required does not mean medically required. Medical attention like visits from a district nurse, should be considered as part of the individual’s wider need for attention.

Entitlement to the care component is based on the attention or supervision that the individual reasonably requires. It is not based on the attention or supervision the individual actually receives.

Aids and Appliances

The need for attention or supervision may be reduced or removed by the use of an aid or appliance.

Aids or appliances may be available to reduce the impact of an individual’s disability. Whether something is considered an aid or appliance may depend on:

  • if it is an object or device and;
  • if it improves, provides or replaces the individual's impaired physical or mental function

(KR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] UKUT 0547 (AAC)(link is external))

For example:

  • adapted cutlery to help cut up food and take nutrition
  • raised toilet set and grab rails to assist with getting on and off the toilet
  • hearing aids to assist with hearing and communicating
  • enlarged font or text to speech software to assist with reading
  • bath seat to ensure the individual's safety while bathing

This list is not exhaustive.

Medication

Although medication may improve an individual's impaired bodily function in some circumstances, it is not a device and therefore not an aid.

For example, an individual may be prescribed medication to control their asthma and improve the bodily function of breathing but the medication itself is not a device and therefore not an aid.

The need for attention or supervision may still reasonably be required to ensure that medication is taken safely and at the appropriate times.

An aid or appliance must, in itself, improve the individual's impaired bodily function. Devices such as inhalers, inhaler spacers, nebulisers and EpiPens are not aids or appliances because, while they can deliver medication, they themselves do not replace the individual's impaired bodily function.

If an individual requires a device to deliver medication, the need for attention or supervision may still reasonably be required to ensue that is is used correctly.

The case manager must decide whether it is both reasonable and practicable for the individual to obtain and use them.

Day and Night

Whether the individual requires attention or supervision by day or by night should be considered in relation to the ordinary domestic routine of the household where they live (CDP regs, reg. 11(6)(a))

There may be considerable variation between households. Case managers should take a broad view of when the household as a whole closes down for the night.

For CDP, this generally considers when the individual’s parents or carers go to bed in determining whether needs come within the day or the night criterion. This is rather than when the child or young person goes to bed. The individual’s parent or appointee may be describe this information on the application form. If there is any doubt about the household routine, case managers should consider asking the parent or appointee for this information.

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