How do I get my PIP assessment report? Ask DWP for a copy: DWP's guide for assessors says you have a right to see the report and can request a copy from DWP. The health professional who assesses you is not authorised to give you a copy at the consultation. This guide covers what the report contains and how to use it if you disagree with the decision.
Key points
✓You have a right to see your assessment report and can request a copy from DWP.
✓The health professional is not authorised to give you a copy at the time of the consultation.
✓The report should include advice on which descriptors apply, a justification of that advice, and advice on the likely prognosis for your condition.
✓DWP's case manager uses the report and all other evidence available to make the decision.
✓If you disagree with the decision, you usually need to ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date on your decision letter.
What the assessment report is
Assessments can take place at an assessment centre, at your home, over the phone or by video call. Afterwards the health professional produces a report for DWP with recommendations on the assessment criteria to support DWP's decision on a PIP award. The report is sent electronically or, where appropriate, clerically using forms, and PA4 is the consultation report form.
DWP's guide for assessors says the report should include:
✓Yes: Relevant history, including your disabling health conditions or impairments, their functional effects and your current medication and treatment.
✓Yes: Advice on the appropriate assessment descriptors for you, taking into account the variability of your condition and your ability to carry out the activities in a reliable manner.
✓Yes: A justification of that advice, explaining the evidence used to inform the advice on descriptor choices.
✓Yes: Advice on the likely prognosis for your condition.
✓Yes: Advice on whether you may need additional support from DWP to comply with future PIP claims processes.
Report forms should contain, where appropriate, an overall summary justification or an individual justification for each descriptor choice. Informal observations are part of the evidence that case managers use to help them determine entitlement to benefit.
The report and all other evidence available are used by the case manager. If you appeal, you, your representative and the members of the tribunal will see a copy of the report.
How do I get my PIP assessment report?
1
Ask DWP for a copy
DWP's guide for assessors says you have a right to see the report and can request a copy from DWP. Claimants who ask the health professional for a copy should be advised that the health professional is not authorised to give them a copy at the time of the consultation.
2
Contact the PIP enquiry line
The PIP enquiry line is 0800 121 4433 (Relay UK: 18001 then 0800 121 4433), Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
3
Ask for the audio recording too
GOV.UK says the audio of your assessment will be recorded, and that if you do not want it recorded you should contact your health assessment provider. DWP's guide says telephone and face-to-face consultations are audio recorded unless you opt out, that there is currently no facility for audio recording in video consultations, and that the assessment provider must provide a copy of the recording on request.
4
Read it against your claim
Go through the advice for each activity alongside what you wrote on your claim form and what you said at the assessment, and note every difference.
In Northern Ireland, the Personal Independence Payment Centre takes calls on existing claims and enquiries on 0800 587 0932, and Capita PIP Northern Ireland is the PIP assessment service provider. If you live in Scotland, you need to apply for Adult Disability Payment instead.
Using the report to challenge a decision
Compare the report with DWP's own guidance for assessors. Look for:
Things you told the assessor that are recorded wrongly or left out.
Reliance on how you seemed on a particular day: the guide says a snapshot view of your condition on a particular day at a particular time is not an adequate assessment, and that advice about variability should look at good, bad and average days.
Informal observations that are not balanced with evidence from professionals who may have seen you more regularly, which is what the guide says should happen.
Descriptor choices with no justification, or reasoning that does not ask whether you can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period.
Contradictions between the advice and the evidence, which the guide says should be explained to the case manager.
Write your challenge around the report's specific points: “the report states X, but I said Y, and the correct descriptor is Z because...”. Tie every point to a descriptor and the points it carries. Our guide on challenging your assessment report goes through each check.
You usually need to ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date on your decision letter, and if that does not change the decision you usually need to appeal to the tribunal within one month of the date of your mandatory reconsideration notice. In April to June 2026, 67% of PIP decisions cleared at a tribunal hearing were overturned in the claimant's favour.
The report contains recommendations on the assessment criteria to support DWP's decision, and the case manager uses the report and all other evidence available.
What is a PA4?
PA4 is the consultation report form, one of the forms the PIP assessment guide lists for sending the assessment report clerically.
Know Your Rights UK. "PIP Assessment Report: How Do I Get My Copy? (2026)." Know Your Rights UK, https://www.knowyourrightsuk.com/benefits/pip/pip-assessment-report