Challenging a Universal Credit decision: reconsideration, then appeal

Almost every Universal Credit decision is challenged the same way. First you ask DWP to look at it again, which is called a mandatory reconsideration. If that changes nothing, you appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, which is supported by HM Courts and Tribunals Service and is independent of government. You cannot normally skip the first step, because the tribunal wants the mandatory reconsideration notice before it accepts an appeal. A few decisions can go straight to appeal, and a handful cannot be reconsidered at all; your decision letter says which applies to you. Both steps are free. Neither costs anything to start, there is no fee if you lose, and a representative can be a friend or a relative rather than a lawyer.

You usually have one month from the date on the decision letter to ask for a mandatory reconsideration, and if you are writing, the letter or form has to arrive inside that month rather than merely be posted inside it. You can ask later where there is a good reason, such as being in hospital or a bereavement, but you have to explain why the request is late and it may still not be accepted. An appeal normally has to reach the tribunal within one month of the mandatory reconsideration notice. The deadline is printed on the notice itself, so work to that date rather than to a rule of thumb. Start later than that and you have to explain the delay, and the appeal might not be accepted. Two dates, both one month, both counted from a letter.

Give the date of the original decision, your name and address, your date of birth and your National Insurance number, then say which part of the decision is wrong and why. Vagueness is what wastes these. Disagreeing with the decision as a whole gives a decision maker nothing to act on, while naming the finding you say is wrong, and pointing at the evidence that contradicts it, gives them something they have to answer. Send evidence you have not already provided: new medical evidence, a report or care plan from a specialist, therapist or nurse, or bank statements and payslips where money is in dispute. Write your name, date of birth and National Insurance number on every page. What comes back is a mandatory reconsideration notice giving the reasons and the evidence relied on.

You appeal online or on form SSCS1 by post, and you need the mandatory reconsideration notice to do it. The tribunal is impartial, independent of government, and hears both sides before deciding. You choose whether to attend the hearing in person. If you do not, the appeal is decided on your form and the evidence you sent, which is a thinner picture than the one you could give by answering questions yourself. You can appoint a representative, and it can be anyone, including a friend or a relative; they get all the papers and can act for you. Free advice is available from Citizens Advice, Advicenow and advisers listed on Advicelocal, and using it costs you nothing at all. Once the appeal is in you can manage it online and send further evidence to the tribunal as it arrives.

Two things. Evidence aimed at the specific finding in dispute, rather than general material about your condition, which DWP explicitly asks you not to send. And turning up. Keep the challenge narrow: name the finding, show what contradicts it, and leave the rest of the decision alone. Meanwhile the decision stands, so a sanction keeps applying and a refused element stays unpaid until the challenge succeeds, at which point the money is normally paid as arrears. That matters most where the sums are large: a health element decision is worth £429.80 or £217.26 a month depending on the rate, and a sanction can reach the whole standard allowance, £424.90 a month for a single person aged 25 or over. Ask about a hardship payment if that gap is unaffordable while you wait.