A woman was wrongly denied disability benefits worth over £3,800 a year for being able to do up her bra backwards, a tribunal has ruled.
The anonymous applicant narrowly missed out on being awarded the personal independence payment (PIP) after assessors said “doing a bra up at the front and then swivelling it to the back” was evidence that she had no trouble dressing herself.
This meant she missed out on the two points needed to be awarded the lowest entitlement of the benefit, for those who struggle with daily living activities. These made the difference between £295.60 a month – or £3,842.80 a year – and nothing.
The woman, who suffers from arthritic pain and numbness in the wrists and hand, had her assessment over the telephone, submitting evidence orally.
After being refused permission appeal at the first-tier tribunal, she escalated her case to the upper tier tribunal, where it was heard by judge Mark West.
The first-tier tribunal erred in law, he said, because it “simply concluded that the appellant should avoid clothing, and change their way of dressing by ‘swivelling’,” ignoring the limiting effects of her disability.
Judge West referred to a 2015 case in which the upper tribunal found it would not be fair to judge a PIP applicant who cannot manage buttons or laces by their ability to fasten velcro, as this defeats the purpose of the test.
He set the original tribunal hearing aside, meaning the appeal will now be heard again.
Claimed by 3.8 million people, PIP is a health-linked benefit designed to help with extra costs incurred by living with an illness or disability. Earlier this year, it was at the heart of Labour’s proposed welfare reforms before ministers were forced to make a damaging U-turn over the plans.
The PIP assessment has long been criticised by disability rights campaigners as a difficult and inconsistent process. According to polling by disability charity Sense, more than half (51 per cent) of disabled people with complex needs report feeling humiliated by their assessment. A further 45 per cent said the process made their symptoms worse.
Around half of PIP assessments resulted in a reward in the five years to March 2025, with only 19 per cent of appeals to the DWP resulting in a changed decision. In the same period, decisions were overturned at tribunal at a rate of 66 per cent.
This can be a lengthy process, with the wait for a hearing at the first-tier tribunal lasting up to six months. The final stage is the upper tribunal, a legal process that can take up to 18 months in all.
Amid the government’s withdrawal of its proposal to make PIP effectively harder to claim, it was announced that disability minister Sir Stephen Timms would conduct a review of the benefit.
This will be a “wider review of the PIP assessment as a whole,” the government has said, “to make sure it is fair and fit for the future.” The review is expected to conclude in Autumn 2026.
A DWP spokesperson said: “This is a very recent decision, and we are currently reviewing it.
“We recognise issues in the current system which is why we have launched a ministerial review of PIP, in co-production with disabled people and the organisations that represent them, to ensure it is fit and fair for the future.”
