The short version
A refusal is not the end, and in Scotland it is not even the last word on the same paperwork. You have 42 days from the date on your determination letter to ask for a re-determination, which is a fresh look by a different member of staff. Social Security Scotland then has 56 days to respond. If that still goes against you, you have 31 days to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland. Nearly half of completed re-determinations are allowed, so the odds are far better than most people assume.
Refusals are common, and so are successful challenges
Those numbers are worth sitting with for a minute, because the most expensive reaction to a refusal is to assume it was correct and start again from scratch. A fresh application restarts every clock and throws away the challenge you were entitled to.
The three deadlines, in order
Read the letter before you write anything
The determination letter tells you which descriptor was awarded for each of the 12 activities and how many points that carried. That is the whole map of what went wrong, and it is more useful than any general sense that the decision was unfair.
Work activity by activity. For each one, the question is not whether the decision felt wrong but which descriptor should have applied and why, judged on whether you can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period. Most refusals turn on that last group of words rather than on a factual dispute.
Three patterns account for the majority of refusals we see described:
- The form described a good day. People routinely answer as if asked what they can manage at their best, when the descriptors are looking at the majority of days.
- Aids were read as a solution. Needing an aid is part of how descriptors are scored, not proof the difficulty has gone.
- Help was not named as help. Prompting, encouragement, supervision and someone being present all count, and they are the most under reported thing on the form.
Two free tools for a determination that went wrong
The Determination Analyser takes your scores and shows where you should have scored higher. The Re-determination Letter generator turns that into a letter. Both free, no card needed.
Analyse my determination → Or go straight to the letter generatorWhat a re-determination request should contain
Short and specific beats long and angry. The request itself only has to say that you want a re-determination, but what you attach to it decides the outcome.
- Activity by activity, not decision by decision. Name the activity, name the descriptor you say applies, and give the reason in one or two concrete examples.
- Frequency in numbers. "On four days out of seven" rather than "often" or "it varies".
- The reliability wording. Say which of the four tests fails and how, rather than restating the diagnosis.
- Anything new. A GP letter, a hospital appointment since the decision, a diary, or a statement from someone who sees your day.
- What was missing first time. If you left something off, say so plainly. Adding it is exactly what this stage is for.
Scored zero across the board?
That is a different situation from falling two points short, and it usually means the form was read as describing no functional difficulty at all rather than as describing difficulty that did not quite reach a descriptor. The argument you need is different, and our guide to scoring zero points covers it.
If an existing award was cut
Apply for Short-term Assistance first, then challenge. It pays the difference between the old and the new amount, or the full previous rate if the award was stopped, and it runs through the re-determination and on through any appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. It is not repayable even if the challenge fails, and it is not available on a first application that was refused.
Guides for every stage
What to do next, in order Scored zero points?
How to turn it around Award reduced or stopped?
Protect your income first Re-determination guide
The 42 day challenge Writing the letter
Paragraph by paragraph The 56 day rule
Your direct appeal right Missed the 42 days?
Good cause, up to a year Short-term Assistance
Money while you challenge Appeal to the tribunal
How to lodge and build it Tribunal day
What actually happens Tribunal waiting time
How long an appeal takes The reliability criteria
Where most refusals turn Descriptors explained
How one gets picked Supporting information
What actually helps Review going wrong?
The form that protects an award Does ADP ever end?
Rolling awards explained
What Scotland does differently at this stage
- A different person looks at it. The re-determination is not carried out by whoever made the original determination.
- A duty to help you gather information. Social Security Scotland can request reports from the people you name, so you do not have to arrive with a full file.
- Short-term Assistance. A protection that has no equivalent in the rest of the UK, and it is not repayable.
- No fee, at any stage. Neither the re-determination nor the tribunal costs anything, and free help is available from Citizens Advice Scotland and local welfare rights teams.
Should you challenge or reapply?
Challenge, in almost every case where you are still within 42 days. A re-determination looks at the same period the original determination covered, which is the period you have already described and evidenced. A fresh application starts a new qualifying period and gives up the arrears you would have been owed if the original determination was wrong.
Reapplying makes sense in one situation: where your condition has genuinely got worse since the determination, and you want the new, worse position assessed rather than the old one corrected. Even then it is usually worth doing both, in the right order.
Our Re-determination Pack covers both stages, from the letter through to the tribunal submission. You can see what is in each option on the comparison page.