nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

We want to hear from you: please tell us about your experience of the online community.

Mandatory Reconsideration

Nattie3

Hi guys.
Just wondering if it's possible to query a mandatory reconsideration without the need for a tribunal? Or even get a re-assessment done? I'm suspecting this not to be the case, but I just feel some of my evidence given hasn't been taken into consideration which I supplied to corrected discrepancies in the assessors report.

I appealed my award as I was told to by the DWP which meant I took it to a mandatory reconsideration but found out today they will not be changing my award. I was told that they are sticking with the original award as per the assessors report, so I'm clueless to why they'd dismiss extra support given by healthcare professionals.

My assessment report which was paper-based had false information originally, and when the report was done I was given another person's PIP Report instead. So the whole experience has been quite stressful and I've been left trying to fight to prove what information is correct and where it's incorrect. Personally I felt the assessment should've been re-done to clear up any anomalies and opt for a face-to-face assessment, with help from my health professionals, to help me communicate and clarify. This would've been more fairer rather than telling me to go to a mandatory reconsideration when they have dismissed extra evidence regardless.

I've since got a new support worker and she's been extremely helpful and has provided better and correct written evidence and even offered to speak to them to try and clear up what was said in the past.

Thanks!

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Fetlock

If you have further medical evidence that wasn't submitted prior to the MR decision, you can send it in. They'll then review to see if it changes the decision.

If you've sent everything you have however then the next step would be to appeal to a tribunal.

Nattie3

Fetlock said:

If you have further medical evidence that wasn't submitted prior to the MR decision, you can send it in. They'll then review to see if it changes the decision.
If you've sent everything you have however then the next step would be to appeal to a tribunal.

Hey, thanks for your reply.
I spoke to a case manager today and they believe that the evidence that I had submitted during the mandatory reconsideration hasn't been reviewed as per the comments made on the assessors report vs the health professionals evidence completely differ. However they said they can only go on what the assessor has written in their report.

I suspect it wasn't a fair assessment nor a mandatory reconsideration.

There are 40 files against my case and the manager couldn't go through them all at that time, they're going to look into it but I've been told to complain to the assessors about my assessment and ask about the discrepancies tomorrow. They had totally disregarded any evidence provided.

However, I wasn't sure if there was anything I can do prior to the tribunal because my mandatory reconsideration was never going to be fair if the evidence wasn't even reviewed. Quite concerning really.

poppy123456

40 files is an awful lot of evidence to read through and i highly doubt even a Tribunal will read all of that. Yes, send evidence to support a claim but very often less is more. Sending all this evidence really isn't needed, especially if some contradicts another.

Usually once a MR decision's been made it's onto Tribunal if that failed and most MR decisions do.

I honestly think that what's needed here is face to face advice. Sometimes it's not always possible to give the correct advice on an internet forum because no one knows anything about your case.

Pop your postcode into this link and it will tell you whats local to you for expert advice. Welfare rights or a law centre are good places to start.

https://advicelocal.uk/

Nattie3

poppy123456 said:

40 files is an awful lot of evidence to read through and i highly doubt even a Tribunal will read all of that. Yes, send evidence to support a claim but very often less is more. Sending all this evidence really isn't needed, especially if some contradicts another.

Usually once a MR decision's been made it's onto Tribunal if that failed and most MR decisions do.

I honestly think that what's needed here is face to face advice. Sometimes it's not always possible to give the correct advice on an internet forum because no one knows anything about your case.

Pop your postcode into this link and it will tell you whats local to you for expert advice. Welfare rights or a law centre are good places to start.
https://advicelocal.uk/

Oh crikey, I haven’t sent in 40 pieces of evidence! Only 3! I don’t know why there is 40 files, I guess it’s information recorded about me in assessment reports and such.
I understand everyone’s case is individual and wouldn’t know me personally. It was just a case of if anyone’s had a second assessment done to clear up all the anomalies written. I think it was purely because it was paper based some assumptions were made which was quite clear.

Thanks anyway, it was worth an ask just in case anybody went through something similar.

Matilda

There was a member here a couple of years ago who queried an MR and got an improved award without having to go to tribunal. But I don't recall what she did. I'll see if I can look up her name - then you'd be able to research her posts. I'll come back to this.

Nattie3

Matilda said:

There was a member here a couple of years ago who queried an MR and got an improved award without having to go to tribunal. But I don't recall what she did. I'll see if I can look up her name - then you'd be able to research her posts. I'll come back to this.

That would be amazing! Thank you.
I know I haven’t given lots of detail but the assessor hasn’t even read any evidence I supplied. I had given 3 letters and I would say they were all pretty clear and conclusive.
The assessor has made assumptions unfortunately and it made my mandatory reconsideration an unfair one as they didn’t check back or even look at any evidence to support my reasons why I was clarifying those areas.

It would be really useful to see to see if anyone else has even been in a similar position and what they had done.

The case manager said that the tribunal would look at the assessors report but did wonder how it would affect the case if they completely disregarded all evidence on a paper based review.

I guess it’s really agitated me a bit and caused worry this afternoon which is why I was reaching out!

Thanks for looking back for me. Can’t thank you enough.

poppy123456

It's very rare they ask you to attend another assessment at MR stage. I understand that you had a paper based one but it's still very rare., i'm not saying it doesn't happen, just rare.

Matilda

Hi @Nattie3

The member's name was wildlife. Type wildlife in search box, click on scope community when her name comes up, then you will get her first post on challenging MR. Next, click on her name on this post to get her profile and a list of all her discussions.

Nattie3

Matilda said:

Hi @Nattie3

The member's name was wildlife. Type wildlife in search box, click on scope community when her name comes up, then you will get her first post on challenging MR. Next, click on her name on this post to get her profile and a list of all her discussions.

Thank you so much for the information. I found it and read through! Just been told my claim is going back to a decision maker because absolutely none of the evidence had even been used in the reconsideration. I’m appalled but also so thankful that the case manager took the time to listen to my concerns and was able to give the consideration the once over which then highlighted the fact that in the assessors reconsideration report they stated they didn’t use any extra evidence so they can only go from the original report so their conclusion remains the same!

As a a result of this we’ve put a complaint in with the independent assessors about the HCP who dealt with my claim due to the negligence as someone from the independent assessors today checked that they did in fact have access to the relevant evidence throughout the reconsideration stage which I had provided upon submitting my mandatory reconsideration in the first instance and it was on their system for the assessors and DWP to see at any given time.

The case manager also stated today that they don’t feel this should need to go to a tribunal, so I’m hoping this is positive news, and they will try their best to sort this out between them without the need for the tribunal.

What a shambles, the fight isn’t over but there may be a light st the end of the tunnel somewhere!

Again, thank you so much for your help and pointing me to a helpful discussion.

poppy123456

There was also someone a few weeks ago that posted here. There report was returned to a HCP because of a compliant that was made by the claimant. Unfortunately, it didn't change the decision for this person. If i find the tread i'll post a link here, providing i can remember the name of the person.

Good luck with your claim.

Nattie3

poppy123456 said:

There was also someone a few weeks ago that posted here. There report was returned to a HCP because of a compliant that was made by the claimant. Unfortunately, it didn't change the decision for this person. If i find the tread i'll post a link here, providing i can remember the name of the person.

Good luck with your claim.

Oh no it's a shame they didn't consider their complaint. I can truly understand the stress and worry it can cause when things don't turn out they way they are expected to do so.

I think I have been quite lucky that the person I spoke to was really on the ball, compassionate and spent the time to go through it with me. Initially she just thought it was another simple case of someone not agreeing to the mandatory reconsideration and needed information about going forward with a tribunal. However, she stayed on the phone and read through the report plus the 3 additional evidences I supplied which hadn't been looked at. She said it defeated the point of the reconsideration in her opinion because it's the claimants chance to clear, express clarification to our illnesses, as this hadn't been checked there isn't any way that they were able to make a fair decision.

It's not being passed back to the assessors for a HCP to review it again as DWP was able to see the descriptor I should be on, this has been passed on to the decision maker purely as the case manager couldn't authorise it. However, the lady from the DWP did urge me to contact the Assessors to put in a complaint about the HCP who dealt with the reconsideration/my original assessment - if that was something I'd want or be willing to do. I feel like I should as I don't believe reading these forums recently that I'm the only one who's reconsideration wasn't taken seriously and merely brushed aside to stick with an original report.

Like I said, there's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for mine, but until I get it in writing I don't want to get ahead of myself and say it's all positively over. However, she didn't give me any indication that I would need to appeal it further, she actually reassured me that it doesn't look like it will be necessary to take it to a tribunal as I've provided enough evidence. I should know for sure early next week if they are going to adjust my award.

Thanks for the information and advice. It's been really helpful to see if others have been in similar situations and how they moved forward with it, it gave me an idea what to expect.