Mandatory reconsideration

unknown

So i first supplied a sick note from march 2017 i was on the telephone type of uc then i swapped from that to the online uc in march 2018 because of this i didnt get a work capability assesment until april this year. I was awarded lcwra on the 12th june but only from july 2018 i asked my work coach why he said he will get back to me i dont hear back from him so on 3rd july i ring and get a really helpfull lady who says my coach isnt in but she will defo let me know the same day, she does and says its because of a break in my sick notes so i ask the doctor if he can help me ( he has been giving me these since march 2017 up until june this year) he gives me a sick note covering the missed time and my coach set up so i could take a pic on my phone and upload it this was done on the 4th july and i still havnt had a message to say anything about it. I get bad anxiety and i keep ringing up to find out whats going on and all he says is to wait. I feel like something has gone wrong and my coach is fed up with me keep ringing every week to find out whats going on so if anyone can let me know if this is normal and sorry if this is hard to read 

unknown

Aswel when i said my work coach i ment my case manager 

Chloe_Scope

Hi @unknown and a very warm welcome to the community! This must be so frustrating!

Firstly, you haven't done anything wrong and you are right to keep ringing as you no longer have that gap within your sick notes. What did they say last time you rang up?

unknown

The last time I rang up he hung up the phone straight away that was yesterday just before I made the post but when I spoke to him last week he said there was no need to look as there would be a journal message if there was any news

poppy123456

Hi,

I've heard of this happening before and it's because you were claiming the old UC when it was live and then transferred online. This will be reason why they are saying there was a break in the fit notes you were sending, even though there wasn't.

I can't find any answer to this on the internet, despite looking. I'm going to tag someone with more knowledge than i have about UC and i'm hoping they will be able to give you some advice.

@Hart86 would you be able to advise anything here please? Much appreciated and sorry to tag you here.

unknown

And thanks chloe and poppy I'm not very good and writing your help means alot thanks

Chloe_Scope

Thanks for this @poppy123456.
No problem at all @unknown, I hope we'll be able to help you sort this.

unknown

I have got an update I had the idea to ring up on a withheld number so hopefully I wouldn't get through to my case manager and it worked so I told the lady it has been 8 weeks since the reconsideration and that my case manager just tells me to wait and is now just hanging up on me. She said that she will escalate it to her team manager which is good because hopefully i will get the decision back 

Chloe_Scope

That's good news! I hope the decision won't be much longer!

unknown

Still nothing I rang again today and they said I should have heard back about the escalation by now and he will escalate it again to his team leader this is now 9 weeks is this normal for a mandatory reconsideration 

poppy123456

There's no timescales for any decisions. Hopefully not much longer.

Chloe_Scope

Hi @unknown, like Poppy has said, there is no timescales unfortunately. I'll keep my fingers crossed!

unknown

What's the longest someone has had to wait to hear back from a mandatory reconsideration I've tried to look online but cant find any answers I know there is no timescales but surely if I haven't heard back in 10 years that wouldn't be normal. Any info would really help get me through the weekend thanks 

poppy123456

You're right there's no timescales but 10 years a little over the top. Some wait 2 weeks and other wait 10 weeks plus, there's no answer to your question i'm afraid. Hopefully not too much longer but most decisions for MR remain the same.

unknown

It's that plus I'm interested in so if 10 years is over the top is 1 year also over the top

unknown

Ok a better question would be what is the longest you have ever heard one take

poppy123456

I'm sorry but there's no average time because all areas and all claims are different. Backlogs are just part of the reason a decision can be delayed.

unknown

I'm not asking about an average time nor am I asking about why it can be delayed I'm asking what is the longest you have heard one take l. I'm now at the 10 week mark so if anyone asks you in future you can say 10 is the longest I've seen. unless you have seen it take longer in which case how long was it.

poppy123456

I never take any notice because as advised, there's no timescales and i have never had to request an MR for myself.

Adrian_Scope

Hi @unknown, I’ve personally known someone who has waited just shy of 4 months for the decision of an MR. She eventually contacted her MP (they usually have a special team who deal with benefits), and got the result a week later. Though whether the MP’s involvement sped things up or not is unclear, it could be she would have heard then anyway. 
I hope you hear soon. 

unknown

So I finally got my decision back today and it's all because of one really nice guy at the contact centre. He told me 2 weeks ago that the best thing would be to put in a complaint (which up until this point no1 had told me I could or should) the person dealing with the complaint got in touch yesterday saying she would look into it and said sorry it has taken so long and within 24 hours the decision was made. I have been in touch with social workers advocacy groups and was even considering my local mp no1 suggested a complaint so hopefully any1 reading this can help other people or themselves with this info