PIP Appeal Questions Answered — FAQ | PIPAppeal
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Your PIP Appeal Questions, Answered.

No jargon and no sales pressure — just plain answers about how a PIP appeal works, what we charge, and how our letters help. Written by people who used to make these decisions inside the DWP.

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Everything you might want to know.

Straight answers to the questions claimants ask us most. If you don’t see yours, get in touch — or email support@pipappeal.org.uk and we’ll answer it.

01 — Our service

We draft personalised Mandatory Reconsideration and Tribunal Appeal letters for people who have been refused PIP or given a lower award than they should have been. We read your DWP decision letter and any medical evidence you have, then write a structured, point-by-point submission that sets out where the decision went wrong — citing the relevant descriptors, your evidence, and the law. You receive a ready-to-submit letter, usually within 48 hours, to print and send yourself. We also help with other benefits and with benefit forms (see below), and everything is on our services page.

Most no-win, no-fee firms take a percentage of your backpay — up to 40% + VAT. On a typical £6,400 PIP backpay, that’s about £3,072. We charge a flat £49, and we take nothing from your award. You keep 100% of any backpay. Our letters are written by people who worked inside the DWP making these exact decisions, so we know what reconsideration teams and tribunal panels actually look for.

No honest service can promise that — anyone who does is misleading you. Whether you win depends on the facts of your case and whether you meet the legal criteria for PIP. What we can do is make sure your case is presented in the strongest, clearest way possible: every relevant descriptor addressed, your evidence tied to the right activities, and the reliability test applied properly. Around 9 in 10 of the letters we draft go on to a successful outcome, against a national tribunal average of around two in three.

You don’t need a solicitor — tribunals are designed to be used without legal representation, and most people attend without one. What we provide is the written submission that forms the backbone of your case: the document the panel reads before your hearing. For the hearing itself you can go alone, bring a family member for support, or ask for free representation from Citizens Advice or a local welfare rights service. Our letter gives you a strong foundation whoever is in the room with you.

Complex cases are common in this work — physical conditions alongside mental health difficulties, chronic pain with fatigue, several overlapping diagnoses. A good letter doesn’t shy away from that; it works through each condition and shows how they combine to affect your daily life against the relevant descriptors. The £49 fee is the same whether your case is straightforward or complicated — we don’t charge more for difficulty.

Yes. We write reconsideration and tribunal letters for Universal Credit and ESA (the Work Capability Assessment), Attendance Allowance and Adult Disability Payment in Scotland, at the same flat £49.

Yes. We write the answers for the PIP2, the AR1 PIP review form, the WCA50 and the AA1, for £49, usually within 24 hours. You copy them onto the form in your own handwriting or online. If you have an assessment coming up, our PIP Assessment Preparation Workbook (£12) helps you prepare.

Yes. The free PIP preview and free WCA preview give you a short review of your case — where you stand on points, your deadline, and your hardest activity argued the way your full letter would. They arrive within 3 hours, with no card details and no obligation.

02 — The appeals process

A Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) is the first formal step when you disagree with a PIP decision — you ask the DWP to look at the decision again. Yes, it’s compulsory: you cannot appeal to a tribunal until you’ve had an MR. You have one calendar month from the date on your decision letter to request it. Around 7 in 10 MRs don’t change the decision, but that isn’t the end of the road — it simply means your case moves to tribunal, where the odds improve considerably. Our complete PIP appeal guide walks through every stage in detail.

At the Mandatory Reconsideration stage, the DWP reviews its own decision — and only around 3 in 10 are changed. A PIP Tribunal Appeal is heard fresh by an independent panel: a judge, a medical member, and a disability member, none of whom work for the DWP. (For Universal Credit and ESA work capability appeals, the panel is a judge and a doctor.) Tribunal success rates are far higher — roughly two in three appeals succeed. You must do the MR first; the tribunal is the stage where most people get the decision put right. We draft letters for both stages.

You can challenge a PIP decision in any of these situations: you were refused entirely; you were given the standard rate when you believe you qualify for the enhanced rate; you received one component but not the other; or your award is for a shorter period than you expected. You can appeal even if you currently receive some PIP — disagreeing with any part of the decision is enough.

A tribunal hearing is far less formal than people expect. You’ll be with three panel members — a judge, a medical member, and a disability member — usually for around 30 to 60 minutes. They’ll explain the process, ask you to describe how your conditions affect your daily life, then ask questions about specific activities. The panel is independent of the DWP and there to reach a fair decision; many people find them noticeably more understanding than the original assessor. The decision is often given on the day. For more on what to expect, see our guide to tribunal questions and answers.

Yes — and it can help. Useful evidence includes letters from your GP or specialists, hospital or clinic letters, medication lists, care plans, occupational therapy assessments, and a diary recording your difficult days. Try to send anything new at least two weeks before the hearing so the panel has time to read it. That said, don’t delay your appeal waiting for evidence — most successful appeals are won on how the existing facts are presented, not on new paperwork. You can always send more later.

If the tribunal doesn’t decide in your favour, you have a few options. You can ask for a Statement of Reasons — a written explanation of how the panel reached its decision. If you believe the tribunal made a legal error (not simply that you disagree with the outcome), you can apply for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal, though that’s a complex step and relatively few applications are granted. Alternatively, if your condition has changed since the hearing, you can make a fresh PIP claim.

03 — Pricing & payment

Because taking a percentage of someone’s disability backpay is, in our view, exploitative. People who are unwell and financially stretched shouldn’t have to hand over thousands of pounds for a letter. Our model is built on volume and efficiency — we’d rather help a large number of people at £49 each than a handful at several hundred pounds. The fee is the same whether your case is simple or complex.

You pay the £49 when you place your order, before we begin drafting. Payment is handled through secure, encrypted checkout — we never see or store your card details. Once your payment and documents are in, we start work straight away and deliver within 48 hours.

No. Never. The £49 is the entire cost. If you’re awarded £1,000 or £10,000 in backpay, you keep every penny of it. We will never contact you after a win asking for more money, and we’ll never ask what you were awarded. There is no percentage, no success fee, and no catch.

No. The £49 covers the full analysis of your case, the drafted letter, and email support if you have questions afterwards. We don’t charge extra for complex cases, multiple conditions, or follow-up questions. The only optional extras exist at checkout if you choose them — the Tribunal Preparation Pack for £14, a Letter to Your GP for £9, or 24-hour delivery for £19 — and they’re entirely your choice, not a requirement.

Revisions are free and unlimited, and your order is covered by our money-back guarantee: if the letter isn’t something you’re proud to submit, tell us before you submit it and you get your £49 back. Read our money-back guarantee →

We understand £49 can still be difficult when money is tight. Free help with appeals is available from Citizens Advice, local welfare rights services, and law centres — the waiting times can be long, but it costs nothing. You can also start with our free PIP preview, which costs nothing. Some people ask a family member to cover the £49, knowing it can be repaid from any backpay. And it’s worth knowing that an enhanced-rate PIP award is worth well over £180 a week, so the fee is recovered within days of a successful result. We’ve kept the price as low as we can to make professional help reachable.

04 — Timeline & deadlines

Your drafted letter is delivered to your email within 48 hours of us receiving your order and documents (form answers within 24 hours). Many people get theirs sooner — we quote 48 hours to allow for complex cases and busy periods. If you have an urgent deadline, tell us when you order and we’ll prioritise your case at no extra charge; Premium 24-hour delivery is also available as a paid option at checkout for £19 if you want a guaranteed turnaround.

Yes — get in touch as soon as you order and flag the deadline. If your one-month window for requesting a Mandatory Reconsideration is nearly up, we can usually turn a letter around quickly. The important thing is getting your request in on time: even a day late can cost you the right to appeal, so don’t wait. If the deadline has already passed, a late request can still be accepted up to 13 months on if you explain why it’s late.

The DWP has no fixed deadline for completing an MR. In practice it usually takes somewhere between three and twelve weeks, with the average sitting in the middle of that range. If you haven’t heard anything after about eight weeks, you can contact the DWP to chase it. If you’re already receiving PIP, your payments continue while the reconsideration is underway.

Tribunal waiting times are long — currently around 33 weeks on average from lodging your appeal, though it varies by region, and the backlog is sizeable. HMCTS will write to confirm your hearing date, location, and how to submit further evidence, usually with several weeks’ notice. Use the wait productively: gather medical evidence, keep a diary of difficult days, and prepare what you want to say.

05 — Data security & privacy

Yes. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, our systems are GDPR-compliant, and we’re registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Your medical and personal information is treated as strictly confidential — it’s used only to draft your letter or form answers and to support you afterwards. The details are in our privacy notice.

Your documents are securely stored for 12 months, in case you need to come back with questions or for the next stage of your appeal. After that they’re securely deleted, unless you’ve asked us to keep them — for example, if you’re waiting for a tribunal hearing. You can ask us to delete your data at any point, and we’ll do so promptly.

Never sold. We don’t sell your data, share it with marketers, or pass it to other companies for their own use. It’s handled only by our team and the trusted providers who help us run the service (payments, hosting, email and drafting software), under strict confidentiality. We never send anything to the DWP or a tribunal — you decide what to submit.

06 — Getting help & support

Yes. If you’re not sure whether our service is right for you, email us at support@pipappeal.org.uk and we’ll answer honestly — there’s no obligation to order. We’re an email-only service: it keeps our costs down, which is part of how we keep the fee at £49, and it means every question gets a considered written answer you can refer back to. We aim to reply the same working day.

Email us and we’ll explain anything that isn’t clear, in plain English. If you think we’ve missed something or got a detail wrong, tell us — we’ll revise the letter. Revisions are free, with no set limit. We want you to feel completely confident in what you’re submitting.

We understand — the appeal process is stressful, especially when you’re already dealing with your health. Many of the people we help feel the same way. We’ll break things down into clear steps, answer the same question more than once if you need us to, and work at your pace. You’re not the only one finding this hard, and you don’t have to work it out alone.

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