Asking for more because of your child's needs

Written and reviewed by Patricia Hughes · Last updated 29 August 2026 · last reviewed 29 August 2026

Regulation 6 allows financial support to take account of a child's disability, and of the consequences of any abuse or neglect they experienced.

Why my calculator adds nothing for this

Because I would have to invent the number, and an invented figure is worse to you than no figure.

So I add nothing, and I tell you to ask instead. Applying an invented percentage would produce a figure that looks authoritative and is not, and if you took it to your council, the first thing that would happen is that it would be dismissed, along with everything else you said.

What helps a request succeed

Be specific and put costs against things. A social worker deciding this needs something concrete to work with:

• Travel: appointments, therapy, contact arrangements. Mileage and how often.
• Therapy or support you are paying for privately, and why.
• Equipment and adaptations.
• Respite: what you need and what it costs.
• Extra wear and tear: replacement bedding, clothing, damage.
• Lost earnings where you have had to reduce your hours.

Where the need arises from what happened to the child before they came to you, say so plainly. That is squarely within what the regulation covers, and it is often left out because carers assume it only means physical disability.

If you are turned down

Ask for the reasons in writing. Then ask what evidence would change the answer. A refusal that cannot explain itself is worth taking to the complaints procedure.

What you can check, and what you have to ask for

Regulation 6(2)(b) is cited above and it is short. A council may take a child's needs into account when it decides financial support.

The amount is the part nobody can give you. No national figure exists, which is why my calculator adds nothing here, and why a request has to carry your own costs with it.