DWP warning: Disability benefit claims for children soar by 40% since Covid-19 lockdowns

Around 730,000 Britons under the age of 18 are in receipt of DLA, which is a tax-free benefit to help parents cover the cost of looking after child.

This represents a nearly 40 per cent increase since November 2019, based on official DWP figures.

Experts have claimed the rise in DLA claims mirrors an increase in diagnosis of conditions, such autism and ADHD.

Concerns have been raised over the hike in the number of families in receipt of DWP disability benefits.

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Many have cited how the mental health of young people has potentially fallen as a result of schools closing during lockdown.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pledged to tackle excess spending in Government with changes to the social security system likely on the agenda.

Andy King, a former official at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), told The Telegraph: "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."

Notably, benefit recipients with "behavioural disorders" have seen their claims more than double to 182,000 compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of parents on benefits to help with children with conditions, such as autism and Asperger's syndrome, has gone up by a third over the period.

Claims for benefit support among parents with an ADHD child have gone up by a fifth over the same time.

By the end of the decade, the DWP is estimating that nearly a million under 16s will be claiming disability benefits.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has claimed the current trajectory of child disability benefit claims initially began 20 years ago.

Back in 2002, around 2.5 per cent of school-age children got a disability benefit from the DWP however that has jumped to around seven per cent by 2022.

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Tom Waters, an economist at the IFS, explained: "If you think about a classroom of 30 kids, that means maybe two of them might be on DLA."

A Government spokesperson 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.”