Pick the letter or step you are dealing with, enter the date on it and see the last day to act, how many days you have left and what to do if you miss it. Covers PIP, ESA, Universal Credit, Attendance Allowance, Scottish disability benefits, Northern Ireland and EHC plans in England.
A deadline keeps your chance to be heard. What the decision maker reads is what counts next, and our sister sites help with that part:
Personalised PIP2 and review wording, Mandatory Reconsideration letters and free guides for every step of a PIP claim.
Start with a free preview →Help with the WCA50 for ESA and Universal Credit, the Work Capability Assessment and challenging the decision.
Start with a free preview →Adult Disability Payment in Scotland: application reports, redetermination letters and 75+ free guides.
Visit ADPexpert →Clear, ready-to-copy answers for the Attendance Allowance and Pension Age Disability Payment forms.
Try one question free →For parents in England: EHC needs assessment requests, refusal appeals and a free refusal letter analyser.
Visit EHCPhelp →Benefit deadlines are written in three different ways, and each one is counted differently. The calculator applies the right method for the step you pick, so you can check the result against your own letter.
Most DWP and Northern Ireland deadlines, and the SEND tribunal deadline in England, are set in calendar months. The day of the letter is not counted: the month starts the next day and ends on the same date in the following month. A decision dated 24 September gives a last day of 24 October. If the next month is shorter and has no matching date, the deadline is the last day of that month, so a letter dated 31 January gives 28 February (29 February in a leap year).
There is one exception. In Northern Ireland the PIP rules count the day of the request itself, so the month for returning a PIP2 or a PIP review form ends the day before the same date. A PIP2 letter dated 24 September means the form is due back by 23 October.
Where a period is set in days or weeks from a date, the calculator adds that many days, counting a week as 7 days. A WCA50 letter dated 24 September gives 22 October (28 days), and an Attendance Allowance form asked for by phone has to arrive within 6 weeks of the call. Council deadlines for EHC plans in England work the same way: 6 weeks for the decision on whether to assess, 16 weeks to say no plan will be issued and 20 weeks for the final plan, all counted from the day the council received the request.
Scottish benefits and some SEND steps use periods 'beginning with' a day. That day counts as day 1, so 42 days beginning with 24 September ends on 4 November, not 5 November. This is how the redetermination (42 days) and appeal (31 days) deadlines work for Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment and Carer Support Payment. It is also how the 15 days to comment on a draft EHC plan are counted.
The part 2 deadlines for Adult Disability Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment and Child Disability Payment are worded 'within 8 weeks' (6 weeks for Child Disability Payment) of the part 1 day. Social Security Scotland counts the part 1 day as day 1, so the calculator does the same, which is also the earlier date.
For most challenges the clock starts on the date printed on the letter (legally, the day it was posted), not the day it came through your door. If a letter took a week to arrive, that week is already gone. Most of these deadlines are also about when your form or request arrives, not when you post it, so posting on the last day is usually too late.
In Scotland a posted or emailed letter is treated as received 48 hours after it was sent. If you enter the letter date, the calculator gives a last day up to two days earlier than the legal one, which is the safe side to be on. Wherever your letter prints its own return-by date, use that date instead.
Missing a deadline is not always the end. What you can do depends on the step:
Select the step in the calculator and enter the date even if it has passed: it shows the late limit where there is one.
The calculator shows an 'aim to send it by' date five days before the real deadline. That buffer allows for second class post, a weekend and a delay at the other end. An online or phone route is usually quickest and gives you a record straight away. If you post something, ask the Post Office for proof of postage, keep a copy of everything you send and write down the date.
Do not rely on a weekend or bank holiday for extra time: some deadlines move to the next working day, but we found no rule that moves a DWP Mandatory Reconsideration deadline.
One calendar month from the date on your decision letter, and your request must arrive by then. For Universal Credit the month runs from the date the decision appeared in your online journal. After that you can still ask if you explain why you are late, up to about 13 months after the decision.
One month from the date of the request, which in practice means the date on the letter that came with the form. The letter usually prints a return-by date, and that date wins. If you need more time, call the PIP enquiry line on 0800 121 4433 before the deadline.
One month from the date on your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice, and the tribunal must receive your appeal by then. A late appeal can be accepted up to 12 months after that deadline if you explain why it is late, but never later.
42 days beginning with the day you are told about the decision. After a redetermination you have 31 days beginning with the day you are told to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland. The same periods apply to Child Disability Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment and Carer Support Payment.
2 months from the date on the council's decision letter, or 1 month from the date on your mediation certificate if that is later. For most appeals you need to contact the mediation adviser within those 2 months to get a certificate, even if you do not want mediation.
Use the date on the letter that came with it, which is usually 28 days away. The DWP can only treat you as failing to return it after a reminder sent at least 3 weeks after the first request and at least one more week, but do not wait for that: send it as soon as you can.
Do not count on it. Tribunal rules and Northern Ireland law move some deadlines to the next working day, but we found no rule that moves a DWP Mandatory Reconsideration deadline. If your last day falls on a weekend or bank holiday, send it earlier.
No. It runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent, saved or tracked, and the calendar file is created on your own device.
Every deadline above was checked against these official pages in September 2026. Legislation links go to legislation.gov.uk.
ADM = Advice for Decision Making, DMG = Decision Makers' Guide. These are the manuals decision makers follow.