The number of parents claiming disability benefits for children with conditions such as ADHD and autism has surged by 200,000 since lockdown, new figures reveal.
More than 730,000 under-18s are now the subject of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claims, a tax-free benefit for parents who need help caring for their children.
This is up by almost 40pc since November 2019, when the number of claimants stood at 534,000, according to figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The rise in DLA claims has been fuelled by an increase in conditions linked to mental health, predominantly among young boys.
It comes amid concern over the increasing number of families dependent on benefits, as well as fears over how school closures during Covid impacted mental health among children.
Experts fear that the rising benefits bill among children is one of the biggest challenges facing Chancellor Rachel Reeves, particularly as she tries to tackle Britain’s worklessness crisis.
Andy King, a former official at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the Government’s tax and spending watchdog, said: “Many children receiving disability benefits continue to do so as young adults, and relatively few of those will be in work.
“Add in the fact that being out of work when young tends to hurt lifetime earnings, and this points to challenges ahead for both the economy and the public finances.”
Claims to support children with “behavioural disorders” have more than doubled to 182,000 since before the pandemic.
The number of parents receiving benefits to support children with learning difficulties, as well as neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and Asperger’s syndrome, has climbed by almost a third to 337,000.
Claims for hyperkinetic syndrome – also known as ADHD – are also up by a fifth to 72,500.
DWP forecasts published earlier this year show that almost a million under-16s are expected to be in receipt of disability benefits by the end of the decade.
The number of parents claiming DLA for their children is expected to hit 948,000 by 2028-29, which is more than double pre-pandemic levels and equal to around one in 14 children.
The latest figures suggest the number of claims related to children is already rising faster than the government forecasts.
Predictions in March showed the DWP expected the number of under-16s claiming DLA to average around 714,000 in the current financial year.
The caseload was already at 703,000 at the end of last year, and is rising by roughly 20,000 each quarter, DWP figures show.
Official forecasts also show that taxpayers face a bill of more than £100bn a year for health and disability payments to people of all ages.
School closures during lockdowns have been blamed by some experts for making mental health and behavioural problems worse.
A study published in the journal European Child + Adolescent Psychiatry this year found that closures had a particularly negative effect on the mental health of teenage boys.
It comes amid growing political alarm over a surge in worklessness since Covid, triggered in part by a record number of people leaving jobs because of long-term sickness.
New figures showed that worklessness hit a fresh 13-year high in the three months to June, with 9.5m adults of working age now neither in work nor looking for a job.
The vast majority of the increase was driven by British-born adults.
The number of economically inactive UK-born adults has risen by 833,000 since Covid, with an increase of 230,000 among those born overseas.
Ms Reeves has vowed to make “difficult decisions” on welfare in her maiden Budget on Oct 30.
She said on Tuesday: “There is more to do in supporting people into employment because if you can work, you should work.”
DLA is a non-means-tested benefit paid mainly to parents of children who need help with extra caring costs.
Payments can rise to a maximum of just over £9,500 a year for children with the most severe conditions.
More than half of children with the most common mental health conditions receive just under £3,800 per year.
This accounts for those who need frequent care or continual supervision during the day, who are also granted an extra £1,500 as part of a mobility allowance.
Parents of children in Scotland can also claim higher rates of other benefits if their child is classified as disabled.
It is unclear whether Labour will proceed with the Conservatives’ benefits overhaul that would have narrowed eligibility for incapacity benefits, saving £3bn a year by the end of the decade.
It is also uncertain whether the government will take forward proposals to reform disability benefits for people of working age, known as Personal Independence Payments (PIP).
There are currently a record 3.5m people receiving PIP, with 30,000 new claims submitted each month.
This is up from around 17,000 pre-Covid, costing the Treasury an extra £15bn each year by the end of the decade.
Figures show that parents in receipt of DLA are more than twice as likely to be claiming for their sons than their daughters.
More than 120,000 parents of sons with a behavioural disorder were receiving DLA in Feb 2024, compared with just under 62,000 girls.
ADHD claims are also around three times more common among boys.
The IFS has previously said the rising trend in claims began more than two decades ago.
In 2002, around 2.5pc of school-age children received a disability benefit, but by 2022 that had increased to roughly 7pc.
Tom Waters, an economist at the IFS, described the rise as significant. He said: “If you think about a classroom of 30 kids, that means maybe two of them might be on DLA.”
Mr Waters also warned there was “very strong evidence from the US that people who started receiving disability benefits as children and into early adulthood [have] negative implications on your future employment”.
A government spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring parents with children with disabilities are supported fairly.
“Awareness of neurodevelopmental conditions has increased over the past decade with a rise in the numbers of children seeking formal diagnoses reflected in those seeking support.”
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