Personal Independence Payments can provide over £700 a month in support
Personal Independence Payments can provide a vital lifeline for people, offering over £700 a month at the highest rates and access to a range of other supports like Blue Badges and accessibility tickets. However, in the last five years only 43% of new claims have been awarded PIP.
People who are denied PIP, or think they deserve a higher rate than they have been awarded, can submit appeals, mandatory reconsiderations and even go to tribunals to get the DWP to check over their case again. But these are known to be lengthy affairs and when questioned about the current waiting times, DWP minister Sir Stephen Timms could not give an answer.
He shared: “The mean and median waiting time between a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeal being lodged and the Department submitting its response to HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), for initial clearances and award review clearances in the calendar year 2025, was five weeks.”
Liberal Democrat Liz Jarvis also questioned what the department is doing to reduce delays in the appeals process, to which the Labour MP assured that the DWP is working on giving each applicant the right decision as early as possible to avoid them having to make an appeal in the first place.
He wrote: “We are increasing resources available for writing appeal responses by redeploying staff and making overtime available.
“We are also looking to make appeal writing more efficient by improving the programme that decision makers use. The improved tool will integrate better with other DWP computer systems, which will make it faster and easier to use than the current process.
“We will continue working to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey so people get the support they are entitled to without needing to appeal.”
Once a person has received a PIP decision, their decision letter will explain what channels they should go through first if they disagree with it. Some will need to go through mandatory reconsideration first while others may be able to go straight to an appeal.
Mandatory reconsideration
This free process is available for a number of benefit decisions, including PIP. Claimants that believe the office made a mistake with their claim, disagree with the reasons for the decision or simply want the decision looked at again can ask for mandatory reconsideration.
However, claimants need to ask for this within one month of the date of their benefits decision. If you miss this deadline, you may still be able to ask for reconsideration if you had a good reason like being in the hospital.
Once you have applied for mandatory reconsideration, the benefits office that gave you the original benefit decision will reconsider it. You’ll then get a letter called a ‘mandatory reconsideration notice’ telling you whether they have changed the decision.
The mandatory reconsideration notice will explain the reasons for that decision and the evidence it was based on. If you also disagree with this outcome you may be able to appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal.
Over the last five years, government figures showed 29% of mandatory reconsiderations that were cleared led to a change in the award originally offered.
Appeals at Tribunal
The tribunal is impartial and independent of government. A judge will listen to both sides of the argument before making a decision at a tribunal hearing.
These appeals can be submitted online and there’s a range of support to help you through it if necessary. The Gov.uk website notes it usually takes at least six months for an appeal to be heard by the tribunal.
This can also be delayed if you don’t send in evidence early, arrive at the hearing on time or register a representative as soon as possible if you choose to use one.
