Your PIP appeal hearing

A hearing involves a discussion with the tribunal about your appeal. It can be conducted by telephone, video call or in person, usually at a tribunal venue. The tribunal asks you questions and finds out more about your situation before making its decision.
Relevant to
England, Wales,
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Attending the appeal hearing

You should be given at least 14 days' notice of your appeal hearing, unless it's reasonable to give you less notice than this and either you and the DWP agree to receiving less notice, or there are urgent or exceptional circumstances.1 

If you can't attend the hearing on the date arranged, you can ask for the hearing to be postponed, although the tribunal might not agree to this. For further information see Postponement and adjournment.

You should always attend the hearing if you can. It gives the tribunal a chance to better understand your situation and you’re more likely to win your appeal if you do. 

If you have a representative, it’s a good idea for them to attend the hearing with you, but it's not essential.

Your representative

You have the right to have a representative to help you with your appeal. You don’t have to have a representative, and if you have one, they may not always be available to attend the hearing with you. If they can attend, they can help you present your case to the tribunal.

Your representative doesn’t have to be a lawyer. Most representatives are not legally qualified but still have expertise in benefits, and work in advice centres, local authority welfare rights offices or law centres.

If you have a representative but you didn’t tell HMCTS about them on the appeal form, you should notify the tribunal in writing of their name, work address and contact details (or they can do this by contacting the tribunal and including a document you have signed stating they have your permission to represent them in the appeal). Even if you haven’t notified the tribunal in advance, it can still agree to someone representing you at the hearing. Once you’ve told the tribunal you have a representative, it must send them copies of any documents which it would send you.2

If someone stops being your representative, you should inform the tribunal.

You can take someone else to the hearing with you – such as a friend or relative – to help you practically or emotionally rather than act as your representative. If someone attends with you who isn’t acting as your representative, make it clear to the tribunal that they’re not representing you.

Who else is at the hearing?

The tribunal clerk

The clerk’s duties include ensuring the hearing runs smoothly. They help the tribunal with administrative matters and don’t take part in making the decision on your appeal.

The tribunal judge and members

For most PIP appeals, the tribunal consists of three people who all take part in making the decision on your appeal:3

  • The tribunal judge who must have legal expertise and is usually legally qualified. Often, they will be a solicitor or a barrister with at least five years’ experience. They chair the tribunal.
  • Two tribunal members. One member is a registered medical practitioner, who provides medical expertise for the tribunal. The other member is someone who has experience of disability because they either work with disabled people in a professional or voluntary capacity, or are themselves disabled (they can’t be a registered medical practitioner).  

In some circumstances, there may be fewer than three people on the tribunal.4

  • If your case is about a legal question and the medical and disability members are not necessary, a judge may hear the appeal alone.
  • A hearing can go ahead without one or more of the members if you and the DWP agree it can, but there must always be a judge present.

The presenting officer

Sometimes there’s also a presenting officer at the hearing.

The presenting officer represents the DWP, and so can explain the DWP’s decision, make submissions and ask questions. They shouldn’t attempt to cross-examine you as if you were a witness or a defendant in a criminal trial. Their role is supposed to be a ’friend of the court’, to help the tribunal make its decision, not to defend the decision at all costs. 

At an in-person hearing, the presenting officer might be either in the general waiting room with you, or in a waiting room of their own. They shouldn’t be in the tribunal room until the hearing starts.

Other people 

In-person hearings are heard in public and any member of the public can attend, but in practice, no one usually does. If you want to protect your privacy, you can ask the tribunal to exclude members of the public. This shouldn’t arise in a telephone or video hearing.

Sometimes, someone undergoing training with HMCTS may attend to observe the hearing. You’ll be asked if you’re comfortable with them being present.

Witnesses may be present if you or the DWP has arranged for them to be, or if the tribunal has directed them to be. It’s rare for the DWP to arrange to have a witness present and in many appeals, there are no other witnesses. If there are witnesses, the tribunal usually directs that they only take part in the hearing when it’s their turn to be questioned.

Preparing for the hearing

The tribunal is ‘inquisitorial’. It asks questions, considers the evidence and must establish the facts on the ‘balance of probabilities’ (so something counts as a fact if the tribunal thinks it is more likely to be true than not) and then apply the relevant law. Although the tribunal is a court of law, it’s not as formal or potentially intimidating as a criminal or other adversarial court. The judge doesn’t wear a judicial wig or gown, and other lawyers are not normally present. If the hearing is in-person at a tribunal venue, you and the tribunal members normally sit on opposite sides of a table to discuss your case. You don’t usually have to take an oath.

What you can do to prepare for a hearing 

  • Re-read the submission you or your representative sent to the tribunal to remind yourself about the decision you’re asking the tribunal to make, and what the relevant facts are.
  • Bookmark the pages in the appeal bundle that contain evidence you think is important to your appeal (for example with Post-it notes).This allows you to find it easily during the hearing and refer the tribunal to it.
  • Be prepared for the tribunal to ask you questions about the relevant facts in your case. This is the most important part of the hearing. You don’t need to have prepared answers to likely questions; just answer the tribunal’s questions as honestly and as accurately as you can. Don’t either exaggerate or understate the difficulties you have.
  • The tribunal won’t ask you questions about the law but may ask your representative whether they’ve relied on a particular rule or piece of caselaw.
  • Be aware that although the tribunal doesn’t conduct a medical examination, it can observe your behaviour and use those observations as evidence. For example, it can look at your walking ability when you enter the tribunal room or your ability to engage with the tribunal during the hearing. If you’re on medication, if possible, just take your normal, prescribed dose on the day of the hearing rather than taking more to cope with attending, unless this would be too difficult for you. This allows the tribunal to see how you are on a normal day. If you’ve taken more medication than usual, such as extra painkillers, tell the tribunal.
  • If your condition fluctuates and the tribunal is seeing you on one of your better days, tell the tribunal this, so they are aware that what they are seeing is not how you always are. Be prepared for the tribunal to ask you about what you can do on different days and the number of good and bad days you have.
  • Have the appeal bundle and a copy of your submission with you for the hearing.
  • If your hearing is on the phone or by video call, be ready and comfortable in a suitable place where you won’t be interrupted and can give the tribunal your full attention. Make sure the device you are using to join the call has enough battery or that the charger is plugged in.
  • For an in-person hearing, plan to arrive in good time at the tribunal venue.
  • You don’t need to dress formally for a hearing; wear what’s comfortable for you.

If you'll find the hearing difficult

If you’ll find the hearing especially difficult and need special arrangements, you or your representative should let the tribunal know as much in advance as possible. The tribunal must consider how to help people under 18, vulnerable adults and 'sensitive witnesses' to give evidence. This includes allowing you to give evidence by telephone, video link or other means, or appointing someone with special expertise to help you give evidence, or adopting a less 'robust' style of questioning. 

If you’re preparing to represent your client at the hearing: what you should know

  • A representative has the same rights and responsibilities as the person who is appealing and the DWP. This means you must co-operate with the tribunal and help the tribunal to meet its overriding objective of dealing with cases fairly and justly.5
  • You’re not expected to be a legal expert. However, you should know the case you’re arguing and the rules relevant to the appeal.
  • Familiarise yourself with the facts and evidence that support the appeal and make sure both you and your client are familiar with your client’s submission. It may damage your client's chances of winning their appeal if you say different things at the hearing.
  • If your client's evidence contains something that you think is implausible or which contradicts something else they have said or written, it's important to discuss this with your client before the hearing to understand the reason for this. Explain to your client that the Tribunal may want to ask them about these parts of their evidence.
  • Don’t ‘coach’ your client or any witnesses to answer questions a certain way. Tell them what the tribunal will be like and the sort of questions they may be asked. Be as confident as you can that you know how your client might answer important questions.
  • Explain to your client that when the tribunal asks them questions, you can’t answer for them.
  • If you think the tribunal may not have received any documents you’ve sent, have electronic versions with you that can be shared. For in-person hearings, bring four paper copies and the original. Remember that if you hand in your client’s submission on the day, the tribunal may not have time to read and digest it, and it may result in an adjournment
  • Have the appeal bundle with you. Bookmark key pages that are likely to be referred to in the hearing.
  • If you can, make sure you have access to any legislation you think might be discussed. For example, have access to legislation.gov.uk or the relevant volume of the Sweet and Maxwell Social Security Legislation volumes.
  • It may also be helpful to have our Welfare Benefits Handbook with you in case you need to check something. The tribunal is unlikely to be influenced by what it says as it's an interpretation of the law rather than the law itself. However, you can use the references in the text to find the legal source for the information given which may be helpful to the tribunal.
  • Make sure you have what you need to make notes during the hearing. For example, you may want to remember issues you need to address in your closing statement to the tribunal.

What happens at the hearing

Before a telephone or video hearing starts

In a telephone or video hearing, you (and your representative, if you have one) are asked to be ready at least 20 minutes before the hearing is due to begin. In a telephone hearing, the clerk contacts you first. In a video hearing, they’ll send you a link. The clerk checks that you’re ready. Then the call or video link is opened to the tribunal and the hearing begins. 

Before an in-person hearing starts

In an in-person hearing, when you arrive at the tribunal venue, you wait in a waiting room. You're met by the tribunal clerk, who asks whether you have any expenses for attending the appeal, such as travel expenses. Your representative can’t claim expenses. The clerk asks whether you have any further evidence that you want to submit, and whether you have any witnesses. 

If you don’t have a representative, the clerk usually gives you a brief outline of what is likely to happen in the hearing. If you have any questions about this, ask them.

Depending on the venue, there may be other people in the waiting room. Other claimants and their representatives may be waiting for their own hearings. The presenting officer from the DWP may also be in the waiting room.

When the tribunal is ready to start, the clerk takes you, your representative and the presenting officer into the tribunal room. If there’s a witness, they're usually asked to wait outside until the tribunal is ready to ask them questions.

The hearing

There are no set rules for how a tribunal hearing should be run or the order in which things must happen. The tribunal has wide discretion to decide what happens.6

The main requirement is that the hearing must be fair – that everyone is given a chance to put their case, and that there is no bias. 

The judge decides exactly what happens and in what order. This includes deciding, if necessary, whether part of the hearing should be in private.

An example of a typical hearing

  • The judge introduces the tribunal panel.
  • If the hearing is being recorded (normally they are), the judge explains this and asks everyone present (except the clerk) to introduce themselves for the recording.
  • The judge explains what the tribunal is and what its job is. They usually emphasise its independence.
  • The judge may summarise what the tribunal thinks is at issue in the appeal. They may invite you and the presenting officer (if there is one), to outline your respective cases. For you, this means just giving a brief summary of the main points of your appeal. If your representative is at the hearing, the judge usually invites your representative to do this rather than you.
  • The tribunal asks questions. Most of the questions are to you, the claimant.
  • The judge asks if you, your representative, or the presenting officer wants to add anything further, after which the tribunal makes its decision in private.
  • At an in-person hearing, you’re asked to leave the tribunal room, along with your representative and the presenting officer, while the tribunal makes its decision. In a telephone or video hearing, the tribunal may leave the hearing to make its decision.
  • Sometimes the judge tells you the tribunal will make its decision and inform you of it later, by sending you a decision notice. Otherwise, you’re asked to return to the tribunal room, or if it’s a telephone or video hearing the tribunal returns, and the judge tells you the decision. 

The tribunal’s questions 

The judge and the tribunal members may each ask you questions, usually about factual matters relevant to your appeal. The tribunal won’t ask you questions about the law. If you have a representative, they may ask them a question about the law, often just to clarify or discuss something in your written submission.

For example, you may be asked how far you can walk, whether you can prepare a meal, or about what happened at your medical examination. One of the members of the tribunal is medically qualified and may ask questions about your treatment and medication. The tribunal may sometimes ask you questions on subjects you find embarrassing or feel sensitive about (such as, about your medical condition and how it affects your daily life).

The tribunal usually tries to be friendly and should always be respectful but can sometimes seem abrupt and business-like. The tribunal doesn’t have to accept everything you say. It can decide not to believe you if it thinks your evidence is contradictory or in conflict with other evidence which the tribunal places weight upon.

If you become upset or confused by the questioning, tell the judge and ask whether it’s possible to slow down or rephrase the questions. Your representative can ask for this on your behalf. If you become very upset, the tribunal may allow a short 'adjournment'. In an exceptional case, the tribunal may allow your representative to speak for you.

The tribunal also questions any witnesses attending the hearing. For example, if a relative or carer has come with you to the hearing to give evidence about the sort of help you need at home, the tribunal asks them questions about this. Usually, the witnesses aren’t allowed to be present in the hearing until the tribunal is ready to ask them questions. 

At some point in the hearing, the tribunal usually asks if you or your representative (if you have one) want to ask any questions. The judge decides when this happens. Your representative may want to ask you some questions to clarify an important point that has perhaps been misunderstood or ignored. The presenting officer may also ask questions.

When you're representing your client at the hearing: what you should know 

  • The tribunal doesn’t expect you to read aloud your client’s submission at the hearing. If you’ve sent your client’s submission to the tribunal in advance of the hearing, unless the tribunal tells you otherwise, you can assume the tribunal has read it.
  • The tribunal may ask you to briefly summarise the reason for the appeal at the start of the hearing, and may ask if you have anything more to add at the end.
  • The tribunal is unlikely to ask you many questions and usually talks directly to your client. The tribunal doesn’t usually want you to give direct evidence for your client, unless you’re giving relevant first-hand evidence.
  • Be polite and co-operative while confidently pointing out the strengths of your client’s case and the flaws in the decision. You’re expected to assist the tribunal, not attack the ’other side' and the tribunal is likely to disapprove of aggressive questioning.
  • If you have the opportunity, be prepared to:
    • ask your client questions, for example if you think they may have misunderstood a question the tribunal asked, or if something needs clarifying, and
    • briefly sum up at the end of the hearing and deal with any new points that have come up that might affect the outcome
  • If you need to ask your client supplementary questions to clarify or cover any important points, you'll have to assess whether you should ask permission to interrupt the tribunal's questioning, or wait until the tribunal has finished its questions to ask permission. If you ask to interrupt, you should be prepared to explain why it's important to do so rather than waiting. For example, because the tribunal seems to have misheard or misunderstood what your client has said on an important point which could affect how the hearing proceeds. Otherwise, if you want your client to clarify or explain any points, you can request permission to ask your client questions after the tribunal has finished its questioning.

Postponement and adjournment

If a hearing date has been set, you can ask the tribunal to postpone it to a later date. Once the hearing has started, it can’t be postponed but may be adjourned (paused). 

The tribunal has discretion whether to agree to a postponement or adjournment, so you should provide good reasons for requesting either.7

If you need the hearing to be postponed, contact the tribunal clerk in advance of the hearing to request this. Put your request in writing, explain why you need the postponement and can’t avoid the difficulty that means you need it. For example, this might be because you can’t attend on the date that has been set (for a good reason), your representative can’t attend and no one else can attend in their place, or you expect to get important evidence but this may not arrive in time for the hearing. 

The tribunal doesn’t have to agree to your request. It must bear in mind the need to deal with all cases 'fairly and justly' and should be prepared to consider your request. It must also deal with cases flexibly. The parties to the appeal are expected to co-operate with the running of the appeal, including making sure, as much as they can, that their case is ready. 

If a postponement is refused, you or your representative can still request an adjournment on the day of the hearing. If that is refused, the hearing takes place.