Writing the submission for your PIP appeal

A structured and well-written submission provides the tribunal with a clear and concise statement of what you want from your appeal, backed up with the relevant facts and evidence.

Before writing your submission, read Checking the law, facts and evidence

On this page:

What is a submission?

When the DWP sends you a copy of its response to your appeal, you're asked whether you want to reply by sending further information or evidence to the tribunal. It’s usually a good idea to send a written ‘submission’. 

Your submission sets out your case for the tribunal. You don’t have to send one, but your chances of winning may be increased if you do. It allows the tribunal to clearly understand what you’re asking for, how the relevant facts and evidence support this, and the points of disagreement between you and the DWP. 

Advantages of sending a submission to the tribunal: what you should know 

  • A submission ensures the tribunal has a clear and concise statement of what you want from your appeal and the facts and evidence that support your case.
  • You can refer to the submission at the hearing (if you’re having one), so you don’t need to remember absolutely everything you want to say on the day.
  • If you send the submission in advance, there’s a chance the DWP will change the decision in your favour without the need for a hearing.
  • If the tribunal reads your submission before the hearing, it may help shape their thinking about your case.
  • Tribunals like written submissions. A well-written submission clarifies things for them and saves them time.

Getting help with the submission

If you have a representative, and you gave HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) their details when you appealed, HMCTS should have sent them a copy of the DWP’s response and the appeal bundle. At this stage of the appeal, a representative from a professional organisation (such as an advice agency, Law Centre or a local authority’s welfare rights unit, if it has one) can usually help by drafting a submission to the tribunal on your behalf. For further information about representatives, see Your representative.

You don’t have to have a representative to help with your appeal, but if you don’t have one it's a good idea to get advice on preparing your submission from a professional organisation which provides free, independent advice on benefits (such as one of the organisations mentioned above). An adviser may be able to help you prepare the submission for the tribunal. Depending on resources, they may also be willing to act as your 'representative' and attend your appeal hearing with you. If they act as your representative and you inform HMCTS of this, HMCTS will allow them to help you put your case to the tribunal.

Getting help with your submission from an adviser or representative who understands the relevant law can help increase your chance of winning your appeal. 

To find an adviser, check advicelocal.uk.

The time limit for sending your submission

The tribunal rules say the tribunal must receive your submission and any further documents you want it to consider within one month of the date when the DWP sent their response to you.1

In practice, the tribunal is usually willing to accept a submission and documents later than this. The tribunal has discretion to  to ‘extend or shorten the time limit for complying with any rule’ subject to its overriding objective to deal with cases ‘fairly and justly’.2

If you’re going to miss the deadline

If your submission or additional evidence will arrive after the one-month time limit:

  • It’s best to contact the tribunal to ask for more time to provide your submission and evidence. This is particularly important if your appeal is being decided on the papers alone (without a hearing), because you won’t be notified when the tribunal is considering your appeal, and unless you have asked for and been granted extra time to send your submission and and evidence, the tribunal could make a decision on your appeal at any time after the one-month time limit has expired, .
  • If you’ve asked for a hearing, make sure that your submission and evidence are sent to the tribunal well before the date of the hearing so that the tribunal clerk can send copies of them to the DWP and tribunal members in good time. This gives the tribunal members time to read them before the hearing. 

What to include in your submission

As a general rule, your submission should only include information relevant to the appeal. You don’t need to repeat information that’s already included in the appeal papers. Instead you can refer to it, giving the page number to help the tribunal to find it easily. 

When writing the submission:

  • Familiarise yourself with the relevant law and be realistic when assessing your entitlement – don’t ask for more than is allowed by the law given your circumstances. To find the law relevant to your appeal see Checking the relevant law
  • Be concise. Ideally your submission shouldn’t be much more than 2-3 sides of A4.
  • Include headings and number the paragraphs. This allows you and members of the tribunal to refer each other to specific parts of your submission when considering your appeal.
  • Clearly explain how and why, according to the law, the tribunal should make the decision you want, highlighting any evidence which supports this. Remember you’re trying to persuade the tribunal that your assessment of what you are entitled to is correct.
  • Try to anticipate any difficulties that might arise from the evidence the tribunal has. If they mean the tribunal might reach the wrong conclusion about the relevant facts, deal with them in your submission. For example, if your appeal concerns the daily living activities for PIP but the evidence shows you are also a carer for your partner, it may be important to give a brief explanation of the kind of care you provide.
  • Make sure the information you give the tribunal is consistent. If it’s not, explain why.
  • Don’t be tempted to add irrelevant facts (such as why you need the money you would get from a higher rate of PIP). It risks weakening your case by diverting the tribunal’s attention from your strongest arguments. The tribunal only needs to know the facts that are relevant to your appeal and be guided to evidence that confirms those facts.
  • In most cases, you don’t have to explain the law to the tribunal. It's likely to be aware of it, unless your appeal relates to a complex or novel point of law or turns on a decision in a recent case that they might not be familiar with. Most PIP appeals don’t fall into this category.
  • If you refer to caselaw in your submission:
    • make sure it's relevant to your appeal
    • use the correct reference for the case
    • make sure the tribunal has access to the case – you might need to include a copy of the decision with your submission
    • include the paragraph number of the relevant passages if you’re referring the tribunal to specific parts of the decision

For advisers

If you’re helping your client to draft an appeal submission you must decide:

  • whether you’ll write the submission from your organisation on behalf of your client (which means you must be their named representative) or from your client themselves
  • whether you attend the hearing to represent your client

Both of these decisions may depend on your organisation's practice and resources. 

It might help to consider these points. 

  • If you’re named as your client’s representative for the appeal, the tribunal expects you to help it deal with the case fairly and justly, and to co-operate with the tribunal.
  • If you're representing your client at a hearing the tribunal might expect the submission to be written from your organisation (although there is no rule to say it has to be).
  • If the appeal is about whether your client satisfies the disability conditions for PIP (that is, which descriptors should apply to them) the tribunal will usually be mainly concerned with establishing the facts of your client’s case. It's likely to give more weight to direct, first-hand evidence from your client about their situation than to evidence from you if you're just reporting what your client has told you about their difficulties.
  • If your client has opted not to have a hearing, the tribunal can't question them directly about their circumstances. This means it may be more important to include their direct first-hand evidence with the submission. If you are writing the submission from your organisation, you could do this in one of the following ways:
    • Include with your submission a brief, signed and dated statement from your client giving their direct evidence about the facts relevant to their case (such as, how their disability affects their ability to perform the relevant PIP activities, and any issues they faced at the health assessment). You then don’t need to repeat the information in your written submission but can just refer the tribunal to the statement when it’s relevant to the points you're making.
    • Include in your submission the details of your client’s circumstances and add a signed and dated statement from your client explaining that they’ve read the submission and confirm that it accurately explains their situation and the difficulties they face.
  • Alternatively, if your client is not having a hearing you could write the submission from your client themselves. If you write it from your client, depending on the activities they have said they have difficulty with, it may be important to say state within the submission that they’ve had help to write it from your organisation.
  • If you can’t represent your client at their hearing, consider whether your client could get free representation elsewhere. If this is not possible, helping your client draft a submission and preparing them for what happens at the hearing may increase their chances of success. If you write the submission from your organisation, explain within it that your organisation is unable to send a representative to the hearing.
  • Before you send the submission to the tribunal, get your client to read it to check it accurately explains their situation. If they contradict what is said in the submission when questioned by the tribunal at a hearing, it risks undermining their appeal.

How to write a submission

There’s no official submission form and no set rules about what a submission should contain or how it should be laid out. Ideally, your submission should be clearly structured. 

Include your name and the appeal reference number on the front page and also in a header or footer on each of the pages of the submission. If the submission is written from your representative, it should also include your representative’s name, and contact information.

Then, an example structure might be:

  1. Summary of the reasons for the appeal - a brief introductory statement about your appeal
  2. Background information – giving background facts relevant to the appeal
  3. Detailed grounds for the appeal – explaining why the facts and evidence mean the tribunal should change the DWP’s decision
  4. Conclusion

If your appeal is about the disability conditions for PIP and the number of points you’ve been awarded, you can draft an appeal submission by using our tool (for subscribers):

Personal independence payment: prepare an appeal submission

Summary of the reasons for the appeal

This is a brief introductory statement summarising why you’re appealing and what you want the tribunal to decide. 

It should clearly identify the decision you are appealing and which part(s) of the decision you disagree with. It should allow the tribunal to quickly understand the decision you think the DWP should have made. If there are parts of the DWP’s decision that you’re not disputing you can also state this.

Example

1. Summary of the reason for the appeal

1.1 On 10 February 2025, the DWP decided that I should be awarded the standard rate of the mobility component of PIP from the date of my claim for PIP on 20 December 2024. I am appealing against this decision as I believe I should qualify for the enhanced rate of the mobility component from that date on the grounds that I satisfy the mobility descriptors 1(d) and 2(c). The DWP agrees that I satisfy mobility descriptor 2(c) but considers I do not satisfy mobility descriptor 1(d). 

1.2 I am not disputing the DWP’s decision on my entitlement to the daily living component. 

Background information

This tells the tribunal the background facts that are relevant to your appeal and guides them to related evidence. Depending on what your appeal is about, relevant background facts might include a brief statement of your health condition(s) and/or disability and how they affect you, the medication you take and any relevant side effects of the medication. Refer the tribunal to any supportive evidence within the appeal bundle by including the page number. 

Example

2. Background information

2.1 Following a serious road traffic accident in 2020 I have PTSD and have ongoing pain in my pelvis and hip. The pain is constant but is worsened when I put weight on my legs and when I move around. Due to the pain, my mobility is severely restricted (as detailed in my GP’s letter, p87). I suffer flashbacks and periods of intense anxiety due to the PTSD. I find it very difficult to leave the house. I am under the care of a psychiatrist at my community mental health team (as confirmed by my psychiatrist’s letter, p96). I am prescribed medication for the pain and anxiety (see my prescription list, p40). The painkillers I take cause me to feel sleepy and make me forgetful.

2.2 I found it difficult to explain my condition fully to the healthcare professional who conducted my health assessment for PIP. Because of travelling to the assessment centre, I was in a lot of pain and experiencing a great deal of anxiety on the day of the assessment. I had taken an extra dose of painkillers to allow me to manage to get to the assessment, but this combined with the anxiety I was feeling, left me forgetful and confused. I found it difficult to concentrate on some of the questions and did not like to keep asking the assessor to repeat them as the assessor seemed in a hurry.

Detailed grounds for the appeal

This is a more detailed explanation (sometimes known as 'submissions') of why the appeal should succeed. It should draw the tribunal’s attention to the relevant facts that show you meet the legal conditions for the outcome you want from the appeal, and to any evidence that supports those facts.

 If your appeal relates to the disability conditions for PIP, remember that:

  • if your condition fluctuates:3
    • normally, you should be accepted as satisfying a particular descriptor for a day even if only applies to you for part of the day (it doesn’t need to apply for the whole day), and
    • a descriptor should be considered to apply to you if it applies for more than 50% of the days in the one-year period which is taken into account when deciding your entitlement (the ‘required period’), and
    • if none of the descriptors for an activity are satisfied on more than 50% of the days but, combined, two or more descriptors are satisfied on more than 50% of the days, the descriptor that is satisfied on the highest proportion of days applies. If two descriptors apply on the same number of days, the highest scoring one applies.
  • When considering your ability to carry out the activities relevant to PIP, you should only be assessed as satisfying a descriptor if you can do so reliably. This means safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period. If you can’t, then a higher scoring descriptor should apply to you.4

Tips for writing the detailed grounds for your appeal

  • Use a clear structure with sub-headings for this part of your submission so that it's easy for the tribunal to understand the reasons you meet the conditions for the decision you want. For example, if your appeal concerns the disability conditions for PIP, you could structure this part of the appeal around the legal requirements for what you are arguing by including headings for each of the activities you have difficulty with and the descriptor you think applies to you. Under them, you could write the reasons the descriptor applies (the relevant facts) and refer to any evidence confirming those facts.
  • Explain the facts that are relevant to your appeal and why they mean your appeal should succeed. 
    For example, if you think your ability to walk has been overestimated, be specific about what your walking ability is. State the distance you can reliably walk (bearing in mind the description of ‘reliably’ above). If you feel pain or get breathless on walking, state this and explain the severity of it and when it kicks in. If the DWP has relied on evidence that you think is wrong or incomplete, point this out.
  • If the facts have been fully explained elsewhere in the appeal bundle (such as in your request for a mandatory reconsideration) you could briefly mention the relevant facts and refer the tribunal to page of the bundle where the details are more fully explained.
  • If your appeal is about the disability conditions for PIP, don’t overstate or underplay the difficulties you have with the PIP activities.
  • Draw the tribunal’s attention to any evidence which confirms the facts that are relevant to your argument. This might be evidence the DWP has obtained, your own direct evidence or evidence you’ve obtained. Include page numbers to allow the tribunal to easily locate the evidence in the appeal bundle.
  • Mention strong points of the appeal - such as supportive evidence. Don’t leave the tribunal to identify these itself.
  • If they’re relevant to the appeal, point out important omissions or mistakes in the submission made by the DWP, or in the evidence it has obtained (such as in the healthcare assessor’s medical report). Don’t leave the tribunal to spot these itself.
  • If there are inconsistencies in the evidence, or the evidence conflicts on points that are significant to your appeal (including if there are inconsistencies in what you have said about your situation) explain the reason for this. Don’t assume the tribunal might not spot these difficulties if you don’t mention them.
  • Briefly mention any law or caselaw that is especially important to the appeal. In many cases, this may not be necessary as the tribunal is very likely to know the legislation and caselaw that apply. Many submissions have no references to caselaw, or at most to just one or two cases.
  • Only cite caselaw when the decision on the legal point it addresses is relevant to your appeal, or if it’s a very recent decision which is relevant to your appeal that may not yet be widely known. If you have access to the Social Security Legislation law volumes published by Sweet and Maxwell and the caselaw commentary in them is helpful to your appeal, cite this as the tribunal uses these books.
  • Sometimes it may be appropriate to give an alternative in case the tribunal doesn’t accept a particular point in your appeal. 
    For example, if the appeal concerns the number of points you should score in relation to the disability conditions for PIP, you could say that if the tribunal doesn’t accept that a particular descriptor applies to you for an activity, you would like it to consider whether an alternative descriptor for that activity should apply.

Example

3. The detailed grounds of my appeal

3.1  I consider that I should be entitled to the enhanced rate of the mobility component as the following descriptors apply to me.

Mobility activity 2 – Moving around - (c) Can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres.

3.2 The DWP decided that in relation to this activity, I satisfy descriptor 2(c).  The DWP therefore awarded me 8 points, sufficient for me to qualify for the standard rate of the mobility component. I agree with the DWP’s decision that I satisfy descriptor 2(c) and do not wish to dispute this.

Mobility activity 1 – Planning and following journeys - (d) Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid (10 points).

3.3 The DWP decided that I do not satisfy any of the descriptors relating to this activity. I disagree with this aspect of the DWP’s decision and believe that I satisfy descriptor 1(d). This is for the following reasons.

3.4 I was involved in a very serious road traffic accident in 2020. As a result of being hit by another vehicle while travelling at high speed on the motorway, my car hit the central reservation, skidded back across the other lanes of traffic and rolled over. I was trapped in the car for several hours while emergency services tried to free me and was hospitalised for 3 weeks due to injuries I sustained to my pelvis, hips and lung (see the hospital discharge letter, p89). I refer the tribunal to the details I gave of this in my claim form (p35) and to the healthcare professional who conducted my PIP assessment (p46 and 49).

3.5 As well as causing me physical injury, this accident has had a long-term effect on my mental health. Since the accident I have flashbacks, severe anxiety, panic attacks and depression. I find it difficult to leave the house and only do so when prompted and encouraged by my family members.

3.6 Because of these difficulties, my GP referred me to the community mental health team in August 2022. Since that time, I have been under the care of Dr Antakis, a psychiatrist at the community mental health team, who diagnosed me with PTSD in December 2022 (see the letter from Dr Antakis, p96). 

3.7 When I am outside, I tend to be hypervigilant, particularly if I am near traffic (see the letters from my psychiatrist (p96) and mental health support worker (p92) which confirm this). I get feelings of panic on at least one occasion whenever I go out, and often have panic attacks, during which I sweat, my heart races and I feel disorientated and dizzy. The panic attacks don’t occur every time I go out but tend to be more likely to occur when I go to unfamiliar places. They are unpredictable, but because I feel unsafe and very vulnerable when they occur, I fear going out alone and never go to unfamiliar places alone - even the thought of doing so causes me severe anxiety (as detailed in my psychiatrist’s letter, p97).

3.8 I have not been to an unfamiliar place alone since the accident. If I have to go somewhere unfamiliar (for example to an appointment) I always have to make sure I have someone with me who knows me well, such as my partner or mental health support worker (see their letters, p99 and p103 which confirm this). 

3.9 The DWP says the reasons for their decision was that I told the nurse who did my PIP health assessment that I drive and that the medical report from that assessment said I engaged well at the assessment, maintained good eye contact, was not agitated and did not rock back and forth (p29). The DWP states that they therefore consider I am able to plan and follow journeys without prompting, assistance and without overwhelming psychological distress.

3.10 In fact, I explained to the nurse that, although I can drive, since my accident I rarely do so. When I do drive, I only go to familiar places near my home and never drive to unfamiliar places or on very busy roads (see the letter from my partner which confirms this, p104). I would not feel safe doing so.

3.11 My condition does not cause me to rock back and forth, even when I am experiencing severe anxiety. I found the health assessment very stressful, and during it I was shaking. I had taken extra medication, above my normal prescribed dosage, to cope with going. My partner attended with me (as mentioned in the medical report, p45). I would not have been able to get there alone. During the assessment, I tried very hard to hide how I was feeling because I tend to feel embarrassed and ashamed by my inability to cope with situations I used to be able to deal with, even though I know it is outside my control. I found it hard to concentrate on what the nurse was saying and my partner had to help me by prompting me to explain things when I missed things out or didn’t understand. 

3.12 My difficulty with going to unfamiliar places alone is consistent with what is explained about my condition in the letters from my support worker (p92) and has been confirmed by my psychiatrist (p96), both of whom know me well. I feel the specialist evidence of my psychiatrist is more reliable than the evidence of the nurse who conducted the PIP assessment, who did not know me and is not a specialist, particularly as I was unable to fully explain my situation during the assessment. 

3.13 I consider I meet mobility descriptor 1(d) which attracts a score of 10 points. If the tribunal do not think I meet that descriptor, I ask in the alternative that it considers whether I meet descriptor 1(b) as, on the majority of days since my accident, I need prompting and encouragement to undertake any journey because of overwhelming psychological distress. Descriptor 1(b) attracts a score of 4 points.

Conclusion

It may not always be necessary to include a conclusion, but if you do, use it to sum up the main points.

Example

4. Conclusion

4.1 For the reasons I have described I ask the tribunal to replace the DWP’s decision that I do not satisfy any of the descriptors for mobility activity 1 with a decision that I satisfy mobility descriptor 1(d) or, in the alternative, descriptor 1(b) and should therefore be awarded the enhanced rate of the mobility component from the date of my claim, 20 December 2024.
Signed:
Date:

After you send in your submission

After you send in your submission and any further evidence, the tribunal usually numbers these documents, including them as an addition to the appeal bundle. It sends a copy of the numbered pages to you and the DWP. The members of the tribunal are sent the appeal bundle and the additions before the hearing.

If your appeal is being decided on the papers (without a hearing), your appeal is then ready to be decided by the tribunal who will inform you of their decision.

If there is going to be a hearing of your appeal, you are notified of the date when one becomes available. You should be given at least 14 days' notice of the hearing, unless you have agreed to less, or there are urgent or exceptional circumstances that mean less notice can be given.5

If your submission is late

If you’re late sending in your submission, you may be notified of the hearing date before you send it. If this happens, try to send your submission and any further evidence as soon as you can, so that there’s time for it to be sent to and read by the tribunal before the hearing.

If you’re having a face-to-face hearing, and you’ve either sent your submission or further evidence to the tribunal with less than two weeks to go until the hearing, or you haven’t sent it at all, take four copies of the information with you to the hearing. Give them to the tribunal clerk when you arrive. Be aware that the tribunal will have limited time to read additional information provided on the day of the hearing and may consider that you should have sent it earlier.