SR1 medical evidence and the Special Rules

The SR1 is the medical evidence form used when someone is terminally ill and claims benefits under the Special Rules.

The form must come from a doctor or consultant looking after the patient, not from reception. Give us the details below and allow us time to reach the right clinician.

What the Special Rules are

Someone is treated as terminally ill for benefit purposes if the doctor completing the form would not be surprised if they died within 12 months.

Claims under the Special Rules are:

decided on medical evidence alone, without a face-to-face assessment
paid from the date of claim, at the enhanced rate, where the benefit has one
usually decided within two weeks

They apply to Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (care component), Personal Independence Payment, Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit (limited capability for work).

Requesting an SR1 from us

Do

Phone reception on 020 7946 0812, or email reception@riverlightmedical.nhs.uk with the subject SR1 request
Give the patient's full name, date of birth, NHS number and National Insurance number
Name the condition, and the consultant and hospital if there is one
Leave a contact number for the clinician
Say if the patient is expected to die within days — those requests are urgent

Don't

Wait for a routine appointment to ask
Send it to the hospital as well as us and assume one will be done
Post original hospital letters — send copies

What happens next

The request goes on the GP's administrative list the same working day. The clinician reviews the record and completes the diagnosis, clinical features and treatment sections from their own knowledge of the patient. The signed form is returned to whoever asked, by secure email, the day it is signed.

We do not send the form to the Department for Work and Pensions for you.

How long it takes

Turnaround by urgency
Request	Turnaround
Patient expected to die within days, phoned and marked urgent	Same working day
Routine request	Within 2 working days

Who signs it

Any doctor or consultant providing care for the patient may sign. Here that is the patient's named GP or, in their absence, the duty doctor. Where the patient is under active hospital or hospice care, the hospital team's own SR1 is usually quicker — ask them first, and ask us if they cannot.

What it costs

Nothing to the patient. The Department for Work and Pensions pays the practice £35.15 for each SR1 completed, claimed by the practice after it is signed, and the form carries a declaration to that effect.

If a claim has already been refused

Ask the DWP for a mandatory reconsideration and send us the reference. A refused claim can be reconsidered on fresh medical evidence, and we will complete a new SR1 for it.

The questions on the SR1, and what we write

The form asks for the diagnosis and the date it was made; the clinical features that show the illness is terminal; whether the patient knows the diagnosis and prognosis; the treatment being given and its response; and whether the doctor would be surprised if the patient died within 12 months.

We answer from the record. If part of it is thin — for example where the diagnosis was made at another hospital and the letter has not arrived — the clinician will chase it rather than guess.

SR1, DS1500 and the 12-month test

The DS1500 was replaced by the SR1 in 2022. The same 12-month test applies. The test is clinical judgement, not an exact prognosis: many patients live well beyond 12 months and that does not invalidate the form.

Where a patient clearly has less than 12 months, the SR1 should be sent at once rather than at the end of treatment.

Page last reviewed 3 November 2026. Next review 2026-14. If you spot something out of date, tell reception.