“Without the help of other people, lots of specialists, I don't think I would be at the end of this story,” said Varia, 46.
“I think at some point I would’ve just stopped it, because it is emotionally draining... I can only imagine how it is for more mentally vulnerable people.”
The single mother is describing her two-year battle with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to receive the personal independence payment (Pip) award that she was entitled to – a struggle thousands of others are still facing.
Following an accident at the age of 25, Varia has suffered from severe issues in both of her knees, requiring five operations over the past two decades. She uses crutches and pain relief to manage, knowing that she eventually faces a full knee replacement with metal implants.
But when she applied for Pip, designed to help with extra costs that arise from a disability, she was told she did not qualify for even the lowest level of the benefit.
She then appealed by asking the DWP for an internal “mandatory reconsideration”, where only 14 per cent of decisions are overturned. Varia’s reconsideration went the same way, so she appealed to a tribunal.
Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of Pip awards are overturned in favour of the claimant at this stage, a new report from charity Z2K has revealed. The findings are a “stark sign that the system is failing claimants”, it said.
After eight months of waiting for a tribunal hearing, Varia received a call from the DWP to offer her a standard level of Pip. She accepted this, but re-appealed to the tribunal on the advice of Z2K, knowing she could likely receive an enhanced rate.
She said: “I can explain to you why I agreed. Because by that time it was already eight months of waiting. Nobody guaranteed me that I would receive an enhanced rate, but because I have a child, I need the support. So at least it was something I could rely on.
"And I can't work, I can't move. Obviously I need extra help."
The single mother had to wait 18 more months for a tribunal judge to agree, based on the exact same evidence, taking her total wait to over two years.
When this happens, a claimant is awarded a backdated payment beginning from when they first applied. In Varia’s case, this was worth £7,692.
Backlogs in the tribunal system have now pushed waiting times for a decision on benefit appeals to an average of nine months, official data shows, with 129,000 cases waiting to be heard by the Social Security and Child Support tribunal.
Nearly 90,000 of these relate to Pip appeals, which the DWP spent £25.8 million defending in 2024-2025, according to the Z2K report.
Samuel Thomas, senior policy adviser at the charity, told The Independent: “Too many disabled people are being forced to navigate a lengthy and ineffective process before they can get a fair hearing. The fact that appeals succeed more than five times as often as mandatory reconsiderations is a stark sign that the system is failing claimants.”
With more than four million claimants, Pip is Britain’s most claimed health-related benefit. It is currently at the centre of a review by Sir Stephen Timms, who found earlier this year that it is “not fit for purpose”.
The disability minister’s final recommendations are set to be delivered later this year, where it is expected sweeping changes will be put forward. These could include the replacement of some cash payments with aids or services, an update from the review’s chairs revealed last month.
The document also indicated the review will propose to improve consistency in DWP decision-making by “learning” from mandatory reconsideration and appeals.
But the government needs to go further than this, experts from Z2K have said, urging for the mandatory reconsideration process to be replaced with a review body that is independent of the DWP.
Mr Thomas added: “The Timms Review’s draft recommendations were a welcome step forward, but there is clear scope to go further and address the fundamental flaws in the mandatory reconsideration process. We need an independent review mechanism that can spot and put right poor decisions at the earliest opportunity.”
A government spokesperson said: “While it is our aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey, we will continue to learn from decisions overturned at appeal.
“We have taken immediate action to address the soaring tribunals backlog this government inherited, maximising sitting days and opening the UK's largest dedicated tribunal centre to tackle demand.
“The Timms Review report made clear Pip is no longer fit for purpose, and the recommendations from its final report will lay the foundation for sustainable reform.”
