PIP Mandatory Reconsideration

bg844

Good Morning,
Good to be here.

I used to get DLA but after my assessment in November I got my final half-payment in January with 0 points. MR was requested and I sent over 200 pages of new evidence as well as a statement of dispute taken over the phone followed up in writing. Called last week for an update and was told everything had been received and scanned and to basically wait. My deadline was 10th March after a deadline extension due to waiting for my consultants letter and my documents arrived on the 9th luckily.

I know Mandatory Reconsiderations can take over 8 weeks as explained in the text I got from them, but from experience how long did yours take, I suppose some people are lucky and get them very quickly but I know people who get the results quickly.

Thank you for reading.

janer1967

Hi and welcome 

The wait is hard to predict as depends on the person looking at it and there workload 

Wow 200 pages of evidence that is a lot for them to go through . They say less is more but as long as it is relevant and describes how you are affected against the descriptors 

Hope your not waiting too long 

My mr was few years back and took 4 weeks but that was before all the backlogs due to covid 

Come back and let us know how you get on 

bg844

Thank you for your response.

The reason I had 200 pages is because the DWP miraculously lost every bit of evidence from my DLA which I used to receive for a very long time. They sent me a letter asking me for every bit of this evidence back in October. Such a stressful system indeed, never had a single DLA assessment and was always awarded and renewed no problem.

Once again thank you @janer1967 for the advice/help.

janer1967

Your welcome 

Understand why you sent it all good job you had kept it 

Just bear in mind DLA and PIP are very different and have different criteria 

Also the success rate for mr isnt that great but there are some who get success , the success rate for tribunal is a lot higher and if it goes that far at least you gave done all the groundwork 

TeddyB22

Hi bg844. What did you mean by a 'statement of dispute over the phone' in regards to your claim?
Good luck with your MR.

bg844

Hi @TeddyB22
Basically I phoned the PIP line back in February and spoke to some lovely woman who was genuinely interested in my case. She stayed on the phone for me for over an hour reassuring me that she knew I wasn’t lying and that she believed there may have been an error (but no staff member can be 100%). She got my PIP2 form up and my assessment and started to ask me points about what I dispute in my PA4. She then said ‘even if you send in a follow up letter, this will look better in your case because to us you will be a challenging claimant and not one who will leave this decision’. The next day I got a copy of this statement out of the blue and it read ‘Statement of Dispute’.

Luckily I had help from an advocate who was fantastic and actually got PIP law up for me and said I should be entitled to more. Thank you for your kind words about the MR too. I’ll keep you all updated and hopefully not too long for any person who is struggling because they have to fight for their benefits.

Caz_Alumni

Hi @bg844

First of all, welcome to the community. It's great to have you here

It looks like you have already received some advice and answers on your initial post - though as both yourself and others on the community have said, it is a bit of a waiting game for you at the moment. Thankfully though, it sounds like your experience of the process so far has been a relatively positive one, so that's good to hear.

Yes - please do keep in touch and let us know how you get on. And if there's anything else that you would like to ask or you want any help finding your way around the community, then just give us a shout.

Hope you have a good bank holiday weekend

bg844

Thank you @Caz_Scope for your kind words.

I look forward to becoming more engaged, have a nice Easter!

scoobi24

@bg844 im waiting on a MR too, its 5 weeks tomora i recieved a tx saying they lookin at mobility side of my claim again for mental health, fingers crossed we hear somethin soon as this waiting is not good for my head 

bg844

Hi @scoobi24

I called on Monday at 9am and I was told a decision was made on the 17th (Saturday), I was told I should get a letter today telling me my result and that she couldn’t tell me when I called as there was some computer issues or something. I checked my bank this morning and nothing is in so I know they have most likely still said no.

Off to appeal we go once I get the MR notice, I haven’t had any money from them since 26th January. In total after the extension I was granted (10th March) it has taken around 7 weeks.

Good Luck!

scoobi24

Oh no, sorry, thats dissapointing for you, i had a letter off them few weeks back and it was sent to me 11 days before i got it, so i would know the same way, if they put money in before a letter, i heard its more likely if you take to appeal? Good luck ??

bg844

Had my decision letter this morning, I’m so disappointed but we move. Still 0 points and a very nasty 4 page detailed reasoning in which they have copied my previous decision and also mixed things up and yet after sending them details and appointment letters from my clinics they still wrote ‘You are not under any specialist’, we agree you could need aids but we have weak medical evidence (I sent them my entire copy) and ‘According to new information your condition MAY have changed since 11th November 2020 so you could consider putting a new claim in. I honestly don’t understand what they mean and where this information has come from? 

I’m just going to leave it even though I never had an assessment for DLA and coming over to PIP I have all this to deal with and no money since January, it is making me ill and even my doctor said it’s disgusting the way I have been treated.

Sorry for the long post but there’s simply no other way to put it.

scoobi24

Oh wow, how disgusting to say all that ? they really domt have any understanding when making a decision on our lives, im not holding any hope, making me poorly too, headaches every day its drivin me mad, dont give up, you have to keep goin, as hard as it is you need to do this for yourself

bg844

Hi all sorry for the late-on post.

I requested an appeal 2 weeks ago and an hour ago I received a call from a DWP Decision Maker asking if I was willing to accept Enhanced Care and Standard Mobility, this was a very easy yes for me to make! The man who called also said ‘We know you are quite badly disabled and on behalf of the DWP we would like to offer you an apology’! All this after loosing my DLA in January. Thank you all.

Does anyone have a similar case to me and also how long for my back pay to clear in my account please as they owe me quite a lot.

Thank you.

janer1967

Hi @bg844

Great news back pay can take up to 8 weeks but as it didnt end up at tribunal and dwp gave the award it will probably be quicker as all they need to do us calculate payment and authorise it 

bg844

Thank you @janer1967

Brilliant, finally another justice in my eyes from the silly people who assessed me. You’re a star!

Caz_Alumni

Thanks very much for the update @bg844

I'm sure you must be really pleased with the DWP's decision. And it's great for our members to hear back about a positive outcome. Hope the backdated payment gets processed pretty quickly and you can start to relax a bit now as well!!

chiarieds

Hi @bg844 - Very good to read you got a favourable decision (in the end), & also that you received an apology. Congratulations indeed. 

bg844

Thank you very much @chiarieds much appreciated. I still haven’t had an email from the tribunal saying my case is closed and I have checked online and it still says ‘Waiting for DWP response’, I’m a little concerned as I have contacted Tax Credits to get my elements added back on and they refuse to do so until I have it in writing and the PIP back pay in my bank. This offer was Thursday too so I would of expected something today. I’m scared now but I’m trying not to think about it till Wednesday when the man told me I should get a letter by at the latest. 

Thank you all again, speak soon.

Caz_Alumni

Fingers crossed that you hear something sooner rather than later @b844  

Yes, please do pop back and let us know when you've got something in writing and you've been reassured of the outcome.

bg844

Got this letter this morning. I’m not too sure if it’s a good award as I only have it till November 2024 but on the second page it says they’ll contact me after the 10th November 2023 for a reassessment (a year before)- I had lifetime DLA. I am still happy really, 13 points on DL and 10 on Mobility. Still though the scores are a joke, I feel they’ve given me whatever descriptors just to clear me off the system. 

Thank you all for helping me along this journey, good luck to anyone being assessed and I hope you don’t have to take it too far.