The Conservatives have pledged to end Disability Living Allowance (DLA) cash payments for children with “milder cases” of behavioural disorders, learning difficulties or ADHD, in a move the party says would save £2.8 billion a year.

The policy was set out on Tuesday 10 November as part of the party’s wider welfare plan, Welfare That Works, which it says would cut £36 billion a year from the benefits bill. Party leader Kemi Badenoch launched the document at a press conference in Westminster, with shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately setting out the detail.

Under the proposal, only children with the highest needs would qualify for cash payments where the claim is for a behavioural disorder, learning difficulty or ADHD. The party says around 70% of such claims would no longer receive cash support, with only the most severe 30% of cases qualifying.

More than 770,000 children affected

Child DLA is a benefit that helps parents with the extra costs of looking after a disabled child. Parents can claim between £30.30 and £194.60 a week, depending on the level of care and mobility support the child needs.

In March this year, more than 770,000 children with ADHD, behavioural disorders or learning difficulties were receiving the benefit, accounting for 85% of all child DLA claims, according to figures cited in the party’s announcement.

The changes would apply only to new claims and reassessments, the party says, and children with physical disabilities would not be affected. Instead of cash payments, the party proposes that support for milder cases would be provided in other forms, though it has not yet set out in full what that support would look like.

Whately warns of a “conveyor belt” to benefits

Ms Whately said the current system risked putting children on a “conveyor belt” towards “a lifetime on benefits”. She told the launch event about a mother who had come to see her because her son, who has autism and ADHD, had little incentive to find work because he was receiving benefits.

She said: “The Conservatives have done the hard graft in opposition to make the difficult choices to bring the benefits bill down. Our detailed plans will save £36bn from the welfare bill.”

Ms Badenoch defended the wider package, saying spending on working-age benefits was “crushing our economy”. She also said that “double amputees run marathons” as she argued that people with disabilities should be judged on what they can do, not what they cannot.

Part of a wider £36bn welfare package

The child DLA change is one of a series of measures in the Conservative plan. The party says £13.7 billion would be saved by reforming disability and sickness benefits, including making lower-level conditions ineligible for Personal Independence Payments, reassessing existing claimants under tougher rules, and reducing the number of people receiving benefits for back and joint pain to 2021 levels.

The package also includes reinstating the two-child limit on child benefit, which the party says would save £3.1 billion a year. The two-child cap was scrapped by Labour last year.

Labour has said it wants to bring the benefits bill down but has not set out a timetable for any reductions. The Government is waiting for two reviews due to be published in November: former minister Alan Milburn’s review into young people not in education, employment or training, and a review into disability benefits co-chaired by minister Sir Stephen Timms.

What happens next

The Conservatives are in opposition, so the proposals are pledges rather than law. They would only take effect if the party won a general election and passed the changes through Parliament.

Charities and campaigners for disabled children are expected to respond in the coming days. The Government has not yet given a detailed response to the specific child DLA proposal.