Does My Child Qualify for a Disabled Persons' Trust?

By Neha Mehta | Chartered Accountant, Financial Coach and SEDN Parent

Every time I have sat down to fill in a DLA form, it breaks me and I take breaks. I set myself time limits. I keep copies of everything I've submitted before, because some of it stays true year to year, and being able to copy across what hasn't changed means I'm not starting from nothing each time.

What's left, once I've copied across the parts that are still true, is the part that's hard. Listing everything that is difficult for your child, all at once, on one form, is a strange and heavy task. Similar monumental effort is required when reviewing an EHCP. You know your child. You live their needs every day. But seeing it all written out, stripped of context, in the language a form demands, is a different thing entirely.

I share this because eligibility for a Disabled Persons' Trust often starts in exactly this place: the forms you've already filled in for DLA or PIP.

What "qualifying" actually means

A Disabled Persons' Trust is a specific structure, and it's not available to every family. In broad terms, your child is likely to qualify if any of the following apply:

• They receive Disability Living Allowance at a qualifying rate
• They receive Personal Independence Payment at a qualifying rate
• They have a mental disorder within the meaning of the Mental Health Act 1983

I'm deliberately not listing exact rates and point thresholds here, since they change, and I'd rather send you to a source that's always current. GOV.UK's guidance on trusts for vulnerable people sets out the qualifying criteria clearly, and a solicitor specialising in this area can confirm exactly where your child stands.

Eligibility isn't fixed — Udi's Blue Badge is a good example

When Udi was younger, she didn't qualify for a Blue Badge. The criteria at the time didn't account for her needs in the way they do now.

That changed. The criteria expanded to include deafness and ADHD, and around the same time, Udi developed epilepsy, which opened another route to qualifying entirely on its own. Between a system that had widened and a diagnosis that was new, she qualified, when a few years earlier, she hadn't.

It's easy to assume eligibility is a single, fixed answer you either have or don't. In my experience, it's been more like a moving picture. Criteria change. Children's needs change. Sometimes for reasons entirely separate from each other. What didn't apply two years ago might apply now.

If your child doesn't currently meet the criteria for a Disabled Persons' Trust, that isn't necessarily the end of the conversation.

What happens at 16

Udi is fourteen, so I haven't reached this stage yet ourselves. But it's coming, and I've already started looking into it, the way I tend to with most things for her. One foot in the current tactical phase, and the other in the long term strategic one.

I've written about what I've found so far in a separate article: What Happens to My Child's Benefits When She Turns 18? — including how the DLA-to-PIP transition works and what to expect from that process.

Compliance: the part that's easy to miss

Once a Disabled Persons' Trust has been confirmed as eligible and is up and running, there's an annual form, the VPE1, a Vulnerable Person Election, that needs to be filed with HMRC for the trust to keep its tax advantages. This isn't automatic. A solicitor or accountant managing the trust should have this on their checklist, but it's worth knowing it exists so you can ask.

Eligibility, and what to do once your child qualifies, depends on circumstances I can't, and no one should, assess from an article. The next piece in this series looks at the comparison most families need once eligibility is settled: Disabled Persons' Trust vs Discretionary Trust: What Is the Actual Difference? — and further along, I'll be covering how to choose trustees and what goes into a Letter of Wishes.

For educational purposes only. Not regulated financial or legal advice. For personal recommendations, please consult a solicitor specialising in disability and estate planning.