How long does a Mandatory Reconsideration take?

A Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) is the internal DWP review you must request before you can appeal a benefit decision to a tribunal. One frustration of the process is that the DWP has no legal deadline to complete it.

Key facts about Mandatory Reconsideration

• It is the process of asking for a benefit decision to be looked at again, and it is free to ask.
• You usually need to ask within one month of the date of the decision. You can ask after one month if you have a good reason, for example if you have been in hospital or had a bereavement.
• The DWP looks at your whole benefit claim again, so your benefit may stop, stay the same, increase or decrease.
• You cannot appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal until you get your mandatory reconsideration notice, and you usually need to appeal within one month of the date of that notice.

Sources: GOV.UK, Challenge a benefit decision (mandatory reconsideration) and Appeal a benefit decision.

How long does a Mandatory Reconsideration take?

GOV.UK publishes no target for how long the DWP takes to decide a Mandatory Reconsideration. In practice:

• The decision arrives as a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice. You need that notice before you can appeal to the tribunal, so do not try to appeal before it arrives.
• If you have heard nothing after a reasonable time, contact the DWP to chase, and keep a record of the call or journal message. If the delay becomes unreasonable, Citizens Advice can help you escalate.

Remember your own deadline is much firmer than theirs: you normally have one month from the date of the decision letter to request the MR, extendable to 13 months only with special reasons such as serious illness. Our MR deadline calculator works out your dates.

What happens while you wait for a Mandatory Reconsideration — and after?

Whether payments continue depends on the decision being reconsidered. For most decisions, including PIP refusals and sanctions, any other entitlements carry on during the MR. If the dispute is about whether you qualify for the benefit at all, you may receive nothing in the meantime — you can claim Universal Credit or other benefits while you wait if you have no income.

Use the waiting time well: the MR is a full review, so submit any new medical evidence, witness statements or a diary of your daily difficulties — not just a statement that you disagree.

There are three outcomes: the decision changes in your favour (with arrears from the original decision date), it changes but not enough, or it stays the same. If it is not fully resolved, you have one month from the MR notice to appeal to the independent Social Security and Child Support Tribunal on form SSCS1. Tribunals overturn far more decisions than MRs do — around 60% of PIP appeals succeed — so a failed MR is a step, not the end.