The Short Answer
A mandatory reconsideration must be requested within one month of the decision letter and is decided by a different DWP decision maker. It can be asked for by phone, by letter or on the mandatory reconsideration form, and the request should name the activities that were scored wrongly and say why. It ends with a mandatory reconsideration notice, which is the document a tribunal appeal requires.
How to Ask
Three routes, one deadline, and a short list of required details. GOV.UK sets out what to include: the date of the decision, your name and address, your date of birth, your National Insurance number, and why you think the decision is wrong.
| Route | Detail |
|---|---|
| Phone | The number on your decision letter, or the PIP enquiry line on 0800 121 4433 |
| Letter | To the address on the decision letter, keeping a copy |
| Form | The mandatory reconsideration form published by the DWP |
Last checked: 7 August 2026
A phone request is recorded and counts, but a written request creates a record you hold as well. Where the deadline is close, phoning first and writing afterwards protects both the date and the detail. Where the request is late, say why in the same letter.
What to Put in the Request
The activity, the descriptor, the frequency, and the evidence. A reconsideration that repeats the original claim asks a different person to reach a different answer on identical papers.
Work from the points section of the decision letter, which names the descriptor chosen for each of the twelve activities. For each one you disagree with, write four things:
- The activity and the descriptor you say applies, quoted.
- What happens when you attempt the task, including what follows it.
- How many days a week the difficulty arises, because the test is more than half.
- The document that supports it, enclosed as a copy.
Two or three activities addressed properly is stronger than twelve addressed briefly. Where the assessment report records something inaccurate, say what was actually said.
What Happens Next
A different decision maker reviews the decision, the evidence and anything new. They can increase the award, leave it unchanged, or — rarely — reduce it. The possibility of a reduction is worth knowing about before requesting, though it is not the usual outcome.
The process ends with a mandatory reconsideration notice. GOV.UK describes it as the letter "stating whether the decision changed and the reasons/evidence". Keep it: the tribunal requires it, and an appeal cannot normally proceed without it.
How Often It Changes the Award
27% of reconsiderations cleared in the quarter ending January 2026 changed the award, excluding withdrawn ones. Across the longer run of initial decisions made between October 2020 and September 2025, 17% of completed reconsiderations resulted in a change.
Last checked: 7 August 2026
Both figures come from the DWP's own quarterly PIP statistics. They describe outcomes across a population rather than odds in a particular case, and the difference between them mostly reflects the period each covers.
Where the reconsideration does not change the decision, that is not the end of the route. Of completed reconsiderations in the same period, 33% went on to lodge an appeal, and 20% of appeals lodged were "lapsed" — the DWP changing its own decision in the claimant's favour before the hearing.
If It Succeeds
The new decision replaces the original from the date the original took effect. Every week in between is repriced, and the difference is paid as one lump sum.
Payment normally follows within days, because a reconsideration is decided inside the DWP and the payment instruction issues from the same system. What the arrears cover for each kind of original decision is set out on the Back Pay After Mandatory Reconsideration page.
If It Does Not
One month from the notice to appeal to the tribunal, and it is free. The appeal is submitted online or on form SSCS1, with the mandatory reconsideration notice attached.
The tribunal is independent of the DWP, and a different body reaching a different conclusion is the ordinary case rather than an exception: 65% of DWP decisions cleared at a hearing between October 2020 and September 2025 were overturned. The whole route, with its deadlines, is on the challenging decisions page.
Related guidance: MR Success Rates.