I have just had my pip award review decision.

JH2022

They have decided that I should receive the standard rate for daily living which I believe is wrong, previously I have been getting the enhanced rate for several years, the assessor only asked me a few questions and kept interrupting me during the assessment which was annoying as I couldn't tell her about my condition properly. The question I need to know is whether they would stop my pip payments if I make a mandatory reconsideration appeal or could they decide I am not entitled to any rate and stop my claim if I appeal. 

Thank you.

poppy123456

The most likely outcome of any MR is the decision will remain the same. Only 23% of decisions change at this stage. If it does happen and they remove points then yes your money will stop but it's rare.

JH2022

I just feel like I had a rushed assessment, my condition has gotten worse not improved so I feel like this decision is wrong but thanks for your reply poppy, I will just write a letter and get my doctor to write one as well and send it in to them because of I have gotten worse health wise how can they deduct points.w

poppy123456

When you filled out the form you did give as much information as possible? (without telling your life story) The assessment is to gather more evidence to support your claim and there's never enough of time to tell them everything. This is what the forms are for.

Letters of support from a GP/Doctor aren't the best evidence to send because they don't spend anytime with you to know how you manage the acitivities for the PIP descriptors.

JH2022

I just told them about my health issues and how it affects me day by day, the same as I told them when I first applied for pip and they gave me enhanced rate. only this time I told them how my health conditions have gotten worse, I had done the exact same as I did when I first applied for the benefit but they must believe I have got better and feel I do not need much support, amazing how a few questions over a webcam can give them that opinion.

unknown21

Hi JH2022,
If you disagree with their decision then you are well within your right to appeal against this decision. 
I would recommend sending a mandatory reconsideration in writing. 
If you are still not happy with their decision then you can take it to a tribunal.
I had a face to face review for my pip claim. My circumstances hadn't changed, but the lady who assessed me decided they had. Based on her report that she sent to the DWP regarding my review they wrote to me and informed me that I had scored zero in everything. 
I requested a mandatory reconsideration and they decided that I was entitled to the mobility component standard rate.
I still disagreed with their decision and appealed against it. I took it to a tribunal. The tribunal decided that I was entitled to both components at a standard rate and that it was inappropriate to fix a term. My payments were also backdated for the length of time they had been stopped.
 I had to wait a year for the decision as they were/are incredibly busy. But it was definitely worth it.

I hope this has helped.

unknown21

The question you ask regarding: if you ask for a mandatory reconsideration could they decide to stop your pip completely after reviewing it again. The answer to that is I don't 100% know the answer. I cannot see that happening, as how can they stop it if you give them exactly the same evidence/information that you gave them over the phone when they came to their first decision. The only way that could happen is if you said that your condition had improved. Don't be put off appealing it. If you have written evidence that is up to date from the appropriate professional then I would definitely recommend taking it to a tribunal. If If you cannot prove that your condition has gotten worse or is still the same then I wouldn't recommend appealing it.

This comment is just my opinion and not a fact. Everyone's appeal process is different.
I wish you the best.

poppy123456

unknown21 said:

The question you ask regarding: if you ask for a mandatory reconsideration could they decide to stop your pip completely after reviewing it again. The answer to that is I don't 100% know the answer. I cannot see that happening,

Yes, it can happen but as i advised, the most likely outcome is the decision will remain the same.

JH2022

unknown21 said:

The question you ask regarding: if you ask for a mandatory reconsideration could they decide to stop your pip completely after reviewing it again. The answer to that is I don't 100% know the answer. I cannot see that happening, as how can they stop it if you give them exactly the same evidence/information that you gave them over the phone when they came to their first decision. The only way that could happen is if you said that your condition had improved. Don't be put off appealing it. If you have written evidence that is up to date from the appropriate professional then I would definitely recommend taking it to a tribunal. If If you cannot prove that your condition has gotten worse or is still the same then I wouldn't recommend appealing it.

This comment is just my opinion and not a fact. Everyone's appeal process is different.
I wish you the best.

I think the reason I got fewer points this time is that I had a video assessment that lasted less than 20 mins. My first ever assessment was at home as a lady came to my home and sat with me for an hour and I spoke about how my health affects me day by day, she was understanding and genuinely wanted to hear what I had to say, the lady who spoke to me over webcam on video rushed me through the questions I think it was less than 30 secs before she interrupted me and moved on to another question it made me feel really uncomfortable plus at one point she turned her webcam off for a good 2 mins and could hear her whispering, she was at home so I instantly thought she was mocking me with her partner or something, I thought I was getting my pip decision stopped completely after that assessment, I was shocked I got standard rate, everything I wrote in my award review form was the same what I put in the application when I first applied for pip, so if I got enhanced rate the first time how can they come to a decision that I should get less? it's all because of the lady at my video assessment, I just wished I phoned them up and got a face-to-face assessment now but I will just appeal it and write down why I think its wrong and hope for the best

L_Volunteer

It sounds like you had less time this time @JH2022, with it being a video assessment, and you feel this has meant you have been given fewer points. Am I hearing this right?

You absolutely don't deserve to feel like you are being mocked. You deserve to feel validated, believed and heard with more time given to you and more patience.

How are you feeling about the idea of appealing it at the moment? Please don't hesitate to let us know if there's anything we can do to support you 

dave7

I have just had a mandatory  assessment  and I got 6 points so no pip what does a tribunal have to do with this,do I have to attend or is it just them or do I give up

poppy123456

dave7 said:

I have just had a mandatory  assessment  and I got 6 points so no pip what does a tribunal have to do with this,do I have to attend or is it just them or do I give up

For the best chance of a decision in your favour it's better to either choose a telephone/video hearing or appear in person. Either of those will give you about 73% chance of success.

Paper based hearings have a much less chance of success at about 5-8%.

No one here can tell you whether you're entitled to PIP or whether you should continue or give up, that's entirely your decision. Although taking it to Tribunal is always better than starting a new claim further down the line because doing so using the same evidence you previously used will likely see another refusal.

There's some information here. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/appeals/your-hearing/

and here https://www.advicenow.org.uk/guides/how-win-pip-appeal

Request it here. https://www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal

Anthonymark

I had my review letter today from dwp ,the assessments are all wrong they didn't get to the problem that has been with me since childhood, that's depression in my case all they could talk about was questions about how to save the government money not getting to the root problem, I want to type this and just give you all a look into how my childhood was and its this ,I was born and from about 4 years old just before I started school everything seemed normal I would go with my mum to grandma's with her  shopping etc, and then I started school at around 5 years old, from that moment on i new that my poor mum was very poorly mentally, which in turn affected my schooling and my personal wellbeing and my mental health,,my mum was so poorly that she pretty much ignored me while getting older(not growing up)she didn't do it deliberately its just she was very depressed, infact when she reach 65 years she was diagnosed with bipolar on the highest level, which means I don't really have a clue who I'm supposed to be and it's like sitting on a roundabout and everything is just repeated over and over again. I always, and without reason just burst into tears no apparent reason and I would cry uncontrollably for around 30 minutes or so ,I started having panic attacks when I was around 7 years, aroound 1974 but because no doctors  or any medical professionals hadn't seen anything like it before and it was abvioius that it wasn't in medical training either I was told utter **** from doctors I was even told that I had a constipation problem, anyway through my younger years I was suffering from adult diseases like chigles, etc ,I was always defecating in my clothes that's only stopped in the last 6 months and I'm 55 next July, so as you read you know as much me as I do and that's nothing, as one psychiatrist once said to me back in the 1980s ""the more I talk to you the less I get to know who you are ""and that's the problem I have been left with from my childhood, people just get frustrated with me not answering a normal about myself and the truth is I don't know either, I'm going to stop there I will say this that my  assessment went belly up as soon as the phone line connected, my enhanced rates for living and mobility were both cut my motobility has been reduced to zero points hence my xar has to go back and the living component has reduced by 6 points my new monthly rate is £330 32pfrom April 6th, I'm very grateful for any help either financially or from the medical profession, but the truth is I don't want to be a burden to anybody I just want to be a person with a personality, and have a normal day,I heard some top psychiatrist in London say the other day that everyone has a personality it's utter rubbish to suggest anything different,,,,well if that's true why has just every one whome I've meet through my life ask the same question,,,, yea but who are you ....I can't answer it.
I'm very confused as to appeal against my current pip rate I don't want the worry anymore I didn't anything for 8 days until my decision letter came today, its bad enough been mentally broken with more worry inside my tinnitus buzzing head .... thanks for reading if you have 

chiarieds

Hi @Anthonymark - I'm sorry your decision letter wasn't as you hoped. With PIP, the assessor's will just ask questions relating to the daily living & mobility activities/descriptors that are looked at with PIP. They're not there to get to the root of all the problems you've suffered, nor to save the govt. money, but to see how your disability currently affects you.

I'm sorry the decision has been so upsetting, but try, if you can, to put this behind you. You can do a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR), where another decision maker will look at everything again.

Have a look again at the activities/descriptors that are looked at with PIP (I think you may find this website helpful):
https://www.mentalhealthandmoneyadvice.org/en/welfare-benefits/pip-mental-health-guide/help-with-your-pip-claim/how-to-fill-in-the-pip-form/
Then, if you decide to do a MR,  it's best to put this in writing, give a couple of recent, detailed examples as to the difficulty you face for each descriptor where you feel you should have gained points, i.e. when did it happen, where, what happened, did anyone see this, & were there any consequences to attempting/doing an activity?
Say if you can't do an activity 'reliably,' i.e. safely, to an acceptable standard, repeat as often as one would reasonably expect, or if it takes you much longer than someone without a disability.
Ensure you put your name & National Insurance number on each page of a letter. Keep a copy, & get a free Certificate of Posting from your Post Office when sending it off.

Please know everyone will be here for support in the meanwhile whatever you decide.

JH2022

poppy123456 said:

The most likely outcome of any MR is the decision will remain the same. Only 23% of decisions change at this stage. If it does happen and they remove points then yes your money will stop but it's rare.

I received a letter today from my mandatory reconsideration and I have won my appeal and they have awarded me the enhanced rate, the thing is I never even sent them more evidence or any letters to explain why I think the decision was wrong, I just went over the appeal on the phone, I never thought I would win it especially after you said only 23% are changed. I got exactly 14 points for daily living.

Beaver79

Hi @JH2022 Great news. Well done. 

Lou67

@JH2022
Oh well done that’ll be a massive relief for you.
Enjoy your day now you have received this great news.

Take care.

poppy123456

Great news to be in those 23%.

Sweet_Strawberry

I have asked for MR as well when I called to request that I would like to do MR the advisor started completing it through the phone  in one point she started asking me questions i though it was maybe for their system as this is first time that im applying and i have no idea i wanted to do it through the forms but in the end i realised what was happening , so now i competed the request for MR through the ph to DWP,  and not in forms I'm completely lost now she advised me if I want I can sent supporting evidence which I already gave everything during my claim now . Don't know what else to  provide.

Hannah_Alumni

That's great news @JH2022  

@Sweet_Strawberry When you go through a Mandatory Reconsideration. They give you the chance to add anymore supporting evidence that may have come out since putting the first claim in. If you do not have anything additional, do not worry. How did you feel with submitting the process over the phone? 

Sweet_Strawberry

@Hannah_Scope thnx for ur reply I have added a post as well regarding my PIP outcome I have been awarded 11 points for DL and for Mobility 4 points which by my opinion I should have scored Enhached for DL and at least Regular for Mobility so for that reason I have requested for MR honesty I feel all this process so stressful and I was thinking as supporting Evidence can I include photos/image's??