Work out your dates
Work out your arrears period
This tool gives you dates and the rule they come from. It does not calculate an amount, because the amount depends on which rate the DWP or the tribunal decided and we will not guess that.
Fill in the dates above and the arrears period will appear here.
Nothing you type here leaves your browser. There is no submit button and no dates are stored.
The rules the dates come from
Three separate rules do the work, and mixing them up is where most confusion about PIP back pay starts.
- When entitlement can begin. Section 77 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 makes entitlement depend on the required period condition, and regulation 12 and regulation 13 of SI 2013/377 set it out: the three month qualifying period looking back, and the nine month test looking forward. On a first claim, arrears normally run from the date of claim, once that condition is met, and not from the much later date the decision was actually made.
- When a corrected decision takes effect. Section 9 of the Social Security Act 1998 says a revision takes effect from the date the original decision took, or would have taken, effect. A mandatory reconsideration that changes the decision is a revision.
- When a change of circumstances takes effect. A deterioration is handled by supersession, and the effective date rules in the Decisions and Appeals Regulations 2013 generally date it from the change or from the report, not from your original claim.
The practical upshot: a slow decision on a claim you win does not cost you money, but a late report of a worsening condition usually does.
After a mandatory reconsideration
If the DWP changes its decision at mandatory reconsideration, the revised decision normally carries the effective date of the decision it replaced. On a refused new claim, that is usually your date of claim. On a reduced or ended award, it is usually the date the reduction took effect.
So the arrears period is the gap between that effective date and the date the corrected rate starts being paid. That gap is often many months, because the MR sits at the end of it, not at the start.
For context on how often this stage changes anything, the published national figure is that 28% of mandatory reconsiderations change the decision. Source: DWP, Personal Independence Payment statistics, May 2021 to April 2026.
After a tribunal appeal
An appeal to the First-tier Tribunal is decided under section 12 of the Social Security Act 1998. The tribunal decides the appeal against the decision under appeal, and its decision stands in place of that decision, which is why arrears normally run from the same effective date rather than from the hearing.
One practical difference: the tribunal does not pay you. The decision goes back to the DWP to implement, and payment follows that.
Published national figure for this stage: 67% of PIP appeals heard at a tribunal are decided in the claimant's favour. Source: Ministry of Justice, Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, January to March 2026. Neither of the two figures on this page says anything about what will happen on your claim.
The exception: your condition got worse
This is the one to read twice. Asking for your award to be looked at again because your condition has deteriorated is not the same as challenging a wrong decision. It is a supersession, and it is generally dated from the change or from the day you reported it. Months of delay before you report it are usually months you do not get back.
If both things are true, that the original decision was wrong and your condition has since worsened, the dates you can claim from are different for each, so it is worth getting free advice on which route to use before you write.
What we could not verify
- A guaranteed timescale for payment. We could not find a published DWP service standard promising when PIP arrears are paid, so this page does not state one.
- Any amount. Arrears depend on which component and rate were awarded and for what period, so no calculator, including ours, can tell you the figure before the decision is implemented.
- Interaction with your other benefits. That depends on your household, capital and which benefits you are on, and it needs a real adviser looking at your case.
General guidance on claiming is on gov.uk. For free advice on your own dates and amounts, Citizens Advice and local welfare rights services do this work at no cost.
What to do next
If you are still inside the challenge window, the dates above only turn into arrears if the decision is actually changed, and that turns on the written argument you send. The mandatory reconsideration comes first, and the tribunal only after it is refused. Both are England and Wales only through us.
Frequently asked questions
Does PIP back pay run from the claim date or the decision date?
For a first claim it runs from the date entitlement starts, which is the date of claim once the required period condition is satisfied, not the date the DWP got round to deciding. Section 77 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and regulations 12 and 13 of SI 2013/377 set the required period condition: the three month qualifying period looking back and the nine month test looking forward. So a slow decision does not cost you money, it delays money you are already owed.
If a mandatory reconsideration changes the decision, how far back does it go?
A revision under section 9 of the Social Security Act 1998 takes effect from the date the original decision took, or would have taken, effect. That is why a successful MR normally produces arrears back to the original effective date rather than starting from the date of the MR decision.
And if a tribunal allows my appeal?
The First-tier Tribunal decides the appeal against the decision under appeal, under section 12 of the Social Security Act 1998, and its decision replaces that decision. In practice that means arrears run from the same effective date as the decision it replaced, which is usually the date of claim on a refused new claim, or the date of the superseding decision where an existing award was reduced or ended.
Does back pay apply if my condition got worse and I asked for a review?
This is the important exception and it is a different rule. A change of circumstances is dealt with by supersession, not revision, and the effective date rules in the Decisions and Appeals Regulations 2013 generally date the increase from the change or from when you reported it, not from your original claim date. So reporting a deterioration late can genuinely lose money in a way a late DWP decision does not. Get advice on your own dates before assuming either way.
How long does it take to be paid?
We could not find a published DWP service standard guaranteeing a timescale for paying PIP arrears, so we will not invent one. What we can say is that arrears are normally paid as a single lump sum to the account your PIP is paid into, separately from your regular payment cycle, and that a tribunal award has to go back to the DWP to be implemented before it is paid.
Does PIP back pay affect other benefits or the benefit cap?
It can, and this page cannot tell you how in your case. A lump sum can interact with means tested benefits and with capital limits, and a PIP award can also unlock other entitlements and premiums that may themselves be backdated. This is exactly the point to speak to Citizens Advice or a local welfare rights service, free, before spending it.
General information and document drafting, not benefits advice. Finally Seen cannot tell you what the DWP or a tribunal will decide, and no page here promises any payment.