When we have dealt with your claim for benefit we will send you a decision letter. The letter shows how we have worked out your benefit entitlement and you should check it carefully.

If you think our decision is wrong, you must contact us within one month of the date on our letter otherwise we may not be able to look at the decision again.

You can either:

1. Ask for an explanation
2. Ask us to look at the decision again
3. Appeal against the decision
   Appeals must be made in writing and sent to us within one month of the date on our decision letter. It should include details of the decision you want to appeal against and why you think the decision is wrong. For an appeal to be valid it must be signed by the person making the appeal.

Full details of your appeal rights are given on the benefit decision letters sent to you.

If you make an appeal we will look at your claim again. If we can’t change the decisions, your appeal will be sent to the Tribunals Service unless you decide not to continue with it.

We deal with appeals in the order that we receive them and our small Dispute Resolution and Discretionary Payments team has several other responsibilities. We aim to send a reply within 3 months. If you have not heard from us within that time, please feel free to contact us again.