PIP Mandatory Reconsideration Template Letter: How to Write Your Request

You have one calendar month from the date on your PIP decision letter to ask DWP to look at it again. The clock does not pause while you gather evidence or wait for your PA4 assessment report. Getting your mandatory reconsideration request submitted on time matters more than getting it perfect.

What Your Letter Needs to Include

Every mandatory reconsideration request — whether you use the CRMR1 form or write a letter — should contain:

• Your full name and National Insurance number
• The date printed on the decision letter you are challenging
• A clear statement that you are requesting a mandatory reconsideration
• Which PIP activities you disagree with and why
• Any new evidence you are attaching or plan to send separately

You do not need to challenge every activity. Focus on the descriptors where the decision got your daily life wrong and where extra points would change your rate.

Structuring Your Letter Activity by Activity

The strongest reconsideration requests follow the same structure DWP decision makers use. For each activity you are challenging:

1. State the descriptor and points DWP awarded you
2. State the descriptor you believe applies and the points it carries
3. Explain what actually happens when you try to do this activity, using your own daily experience
4. Reference the reliability criteria — can you do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and in a reasonable time?
5. Name any evidence that supports your account (a GP letter, hospital records, a carer's statement)

DWP decision makers routinely identify and disregard generic template language copied from the internet. A paragraph describing how your condition actually affects you on a typical morning carries more weight than any pre-written stock phrase.

Why You Should Not Wait for the PA4 Report

Many people delay their reconsideration request because they want to see their assessment report first. The problem is that requesting your PA4 report does not pause your one-month deadline. If the DWP takes three weeks to send it, you may have only days left.

The safer approach: submit your reconsideration request within the one-month window, stating that you are challenging specific activities and that you will send detailed written reasons and additional evidence once you have received your PA4 report. This locks in your right to a reconsideration while giving you time to build a thorough response.

The Reliability Criteria: What Makes Evidence Stick

Under Regulation 4(2A), DWP should only treat you as able to do an activity if you can do it:

• Safely — in a manner unlikely to cause harm to yourself or another person, during or after the activity
• To an acceptable standard — whether the result is good enough
• Repeatedly — as often as is reasonably required
• In a reasonable time — taking no more than twice as long as someone without your condition

If you fail any one of those four tests, you should be scored as unable to do the activity at that level. When you describe your daily life, frame it around these criteria. Not just "I struggle with cooking" but "I cannot safely use the hob because I have fallen asleep standing up twice in the last month due to medication side effects."

Common Mistakes That Weaken Your Request

Focusing on diagnosis instead of function. DWP does not award points for having a condition. Points come from what you cannot do reliably because of it.

Describing only your worst days. Decision makers need to know how often your bad days happen, not just how bad they are. Under the fluctuating conditions rule, a descriptor applies if it is true on more than 50% of days across the 12-month assessment period.

Sending unsupported claims. A GP letter confirming your medication and clinical history is more useful than three pages of personal statements with no corroboration.

Getting Structured Help

Our PIP Mandatory Reconsideration guide walks you through each step — from reading your decision letter and requesting the PA4 report to structuring your challenge activity by activity and tracking your submission. It includes worksheets for auditing your assessment report and logging your daily functional impact against the reliability criteria.

Free help is also available from Citizens Advice, local welfare rights services and disability charities. If you can get an appointment within your deadline, a welfare rights adviser can review your case and help you structure your arguments.

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