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Advice about Mandatory Reconsideration

Comicmadtitan

Hello all, I submitted a question here the other day and got some wonderful advice! But I had a few more questions, I received my decision letter and it was even worse than the assessors report to the point myself and my mam thought they mixed me up with someone else. I called DWP to file for a mandatory reconsideration and mentioned that there was a number of inaccuracies with the report and they noted it on the system and said I should bring that up in the notice. I said that I heard doing so isn't desirable and I was told to put everything in including what they got wrong. I was just wondering is this correct or did I receive some wrongful advice? Also when i'm writing the reconsideration, is there a specific format I should be following?
Thanks all

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janer1967

Hi and welcome it is normally advised not to put too much emphasis on any lies in the report but yes what you think is wrong is thre best

Go through each descriptor you disagree with and state why you disagree and why you think you should have been awarded points.

Give real examples of what happens when you try and do the task how you do it, any aids or support, if you cant do it why not. Can you do it safely and reliably

There is no particular format just go through each descriptor

There was a post that gave a template format somebody had used a couple of weeks ago you may find it in the PIP section.

You may also find a template on the internet

Comicmadtitan

Great, thank you for your help @janer1967. I was just about to write it up and started panicking haha

janer1967

Your welcome, take your time and review it a few times before sending.

Good luck and keep us up to date with the outcome, there does appear to be a higher success rate at MR at present

Comicmadtitan

Thank you @janer1967 I most definitely will! I really hope this is successful, it has been devestating so far and hasn't helped my mental health at all

janer1967

I understand and have been through it all myself as have many people here keep up the fight

Comicmadtitan

Thank you! I most definitely will. Did you have to go for a MR yourself janer?

janer1967

I had to do MR and tribunal but that was for Limited capability for work, but its the same process

I was awarded PIP without any issues and also had a review which go enhanced on both

Comicmadtitan

Oh brilliant! Thank you Janer, gives me hope haha

male45

@Comicmadtitan
I had to write up a mandatory reconsideration and did so woth help from my local advice centre here in Belfast which is now known as advice space.
But a search online at citizens advice site gives some good examples / advice on various stages of claiming PIP and after if youve been disappointed with the results.
Here is the link to England's citizens advice online
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/sick-or-disabled-people-and-carers/pip/appeals/mandatory-reconsideration/

Hope it helps and I wish you good luck with your reconsideration request.

Comicmadtitan

Brilliant, thank you @male45, I'll read that now! How did your own MR go?

male45

@Comicmadtitan
You're welcome
Not wanting to put you off, my MR failed and I progressed to the next stage which was appeal.
Appeal can take some time to take place depending on your area.
I waited 18 months and had a f2f 4 weeks before lockdown.
I won my appeal.
So don't get disheartened keep at it.
Best wishes

Comicmadtitan

I'm glad your decision was a good one @male45! It doesn't put me off as I know theres a chance that it may not go the way that I want, but fingers crossed. Thanks!

Comicmadtitan

I finished writing my MR and it ended on 8 pages, is this a lot? or okay?

poppy123456

HI,

8 pages is an awful lot of reading, which they may not read. All you need to do is point out which descriptors you think apply, your reasons why and a couple of real life examples of what happened the last time you attempted that activity for each descriptor that applies to you. Anything more and you need to think to yourself, is all that really needed.

Less is often more, keep it simple and straight to the point.

Comicmadtitan

Thanks @poppy123456! A lot of the document is formatted like this:

The HP has suggested that the following descriptor applies:

1d Needs prompting to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal.

Which means I have been awarded 2 points for this descriptor. I believe that the correct descriptor for this activity that applies to me is:

1f Cannot prepare and cook food at all.

with that spacing and then I give an explanation and real world examples. I've also included the activies I agree with on there decision, should I just cut those out as well? As I totally agree with you, less is more sometimes haha

poppy123456

Expecting to score 8 points for one activity is an awful lot. If you've never learnt how to cook then you won't score points for this. Whether you'll successfully score anymore than 2 here will depend on how your conditions affect you. Realistically it's not always possible to score as many points as you think. Likewise you could score more points than you think for a certain activity.

Difficult to advise without knowing exactly how your conditions affect you.

If it does get to Tribunal one thing to remember is that once you've scored enough points for the maximum award (12) then you won't score anymore points because they won't go any further than they need to.

Personally, i wouldn't add what you agree with.

Comicmadtitan

That makes a lot of sense poppy, could I potentially as a favour of you. Would you be able to read what I've wrote if I send it privately? Just I know you're a legend around here, and extremely knowledgeable on this. I understand if you're not comfortable with it.

poppy123456

That's very kind of you to say such kind words, thank you! However, it's not really going to help you even if i did that because i have no idea exactly how your conditions affect you against the PIP descriptors and without knowing all your exact details it would be pointless me even starting to read it.

It's just not possible to give this level of advice on any internet forum. For this type of advice you need an advice agency to help you because they could spend more time to get to know all about your conditions and i really don't have the time for that, which is why i don't help anyone through private messages.

Just have another read through what you've written and take out anything that's not really relevant.

Comicmadtitan

That makes a lot of sense, hadn't considered that. No problem at all poppy, I'll have a read through again and my mum will be too. Again, you've been amazing, thank you!

poppy123456

Youre welcome. Good luck and do let us know the outcome