Preparing for mandatory reconsideration

Curiouscat

Hi all, I wanted to see if anyone had any advice on preparing to apply for a mandatory reconsideration. I notified PIP of a change in my circumstances and was recently sent the text that my assessment report had been received without me having another assessment. I asked for a copy of the assessment report and received that today. In the copy of the assessment report the assessor has given me 0 points on every descriptor based on a conversation she had with a member of the community mental health team who apparently has said that I am doing much better with my condition and that I am coping well. This member of the community mental health team doesn’t know about my day to day struggles as I choose not to share them due to embarrassment about the ways I function.

My question is if anyone has any advice on how to go about the mandatory reconsideration now. I know I’ll have to wait till the decision is officially made before I can submit the mandatory consideration but it is likely to be a rejection considering the assessment report. I’m just a bit confused on what evidence I can provide in my favour or how to structure my mandatory consideration when the community mental health member has basically said that there is nothing wrong with me even though I have multiple struggles.

Albus_Scope

Hi @Curiouscat. 

We have some information regarding mandatory reconsiderations on our website here which may be worth you reading through.  The main way you can go about your MR is by showing how your illness affects each descriptor, with recent real life examples. 
 It seems very much like a box ticking exercise for the assessors, so if you can show that box needs ticking, that'll go a long way to helping you get your award. So it's less about providing medical evidence from GPs etc and more about you showing how you're affected daily. I hope that makes sense?

Curiouscat

Albus_Scope said:

Hi @Curiouscat. 

We have some information regarding mandatory reconsiderations on our website here which may be worth you reading through.  The main way you can go about your MR is by showing how your illness affects each descriptor, with recent real life examples. 
 It seems very much like a box ticking exercise for the assessors, so if you can show that box needs ticking, that'll go a long way to helping you get your award. So it's less about providing medical evidence from GPs etc and more about you showing how you're affected daily. I hope that makes sense?

Yes that makes sense, thank you for your advice!

chiarieds

Do put your Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) in writing; a letter is fine. Remember PIP is not about any diagnosis, but rather how your disability affects your functional ability to attempt/do any of the PIP descriptors the majority of the time. Have a look again at the activities/descriptors that are looked at: https://www.mentalhealthandmoneyadvice.org/en/welfare-benefits/pip-mental-health-guide/help-with-your-pip-claim/how-to-fill-in-the-pip-form/

With your MR you should say where you think you should have got points, & why giving a couple of recent, detailed examples as to the difficulty you face for each applicable descriptor as Albus has mentioned, 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.

Put your name & National Insurance number on each page. Keep a copy, & get a free Certificate of Posting from your Post Office when sending it off.