I'd like to write a mandatory reconsideration letter for my PIP assessment. What should I include?

chiarieds said:

Hi @subs - welcome, & I see you have had some excellent advice above. I'd just like to add, that like yourself, I'm in pain the moment I stand, & pain is perhaps something difficult to get across, but needs to be mentioned.

We all have to use the bathroom, but walking to it is not taken into consideration, rather any difficulty you have once there.

May I suggest, if you haven't already looked at these 'descriptors,' the following link may help, & please read the notes at the end. Please see: https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/asset-library/Scores-for-PIP-Descriptors-2020.pdf

On the whole a GP will not know about any difficulties you have with the activities of daily living, & whilst a consultant will likely know more about your condition, neither will they likely know any difficulties you face dressing, preparing a simple meal, bathing, etc.

As mentioned, you need to give the details for any applicable descriptor, as to why you had difficulty doing/attempting this, what happened, did you need support/help, how did it make you feel afterwards, could you repeat the activity as often as you'd like, did it take you a long time to do? etc. This is the detail needed, even more than any medical info.

Many members have felt angry when they see their assessment report or decision letter with 'inaccuracies,' & parts of a decision letter are unfortunately some 'cut & paste' comments, which may bear no apparent resemblance to your problems. The way forward is to try & put that behind you; your assessment is done, so concentrate on how to do a Mandatory Reconsideration effectively with the advice already given.

Username_removed said:

We see hundreds of threads like this year. “My PIP form was great and my assessor was not”. In around 60% of cases neither of those statements are wholly accurate and thinking that way is the single largest barrier to getting PIP. This is compounded by seeing the phrase “reading stories online”. A red flag if ever there was one. People don’t post much in the way or positive outcomes online. Social media creates a vacuum of self-perpetuating extreme views and few stories online reflect the reality which is that most people who claim PIP get an award and many times when they don’t that’s actually the correct decision. Where it isn’t then around 75% of challenges to appeal will win. 

Forget about your HCP assessment and absolutely do not write an MR “letter”. Use the form at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/683380/if-you-disagree-with-a-decision-made-by-dwp.PDF and take the hint. Less is often more. Focus not quantity is required.

Identify the specific points you ought to have scored e.g. 1d or 4c and add 2 real world examples of the last recent occasion you attempted that activity. You will need full detail e.g. what happened, where, when, who saw it, what caused it, what happened next. On average you need between half a side of A4 per anecdote.

Understand the difference between assertion and evidence. Assertion is “I fall twice a week”. Evidence is “I fell last week in my kitchen in the morning with my mother present. My left knee gave way and I collapsed forwards hitting my head on the oven door. I couldn’t get up by myself and my mother had to lift me up and call an ambulance because I split the left side of my forehead open.” 

Anyone can assert. Only you can evidence. Once you’ve done this have a look back at your PIP 2 and play devils advocate. Did you assert or evidence?

if you mention the HCP report at all it should be to highlight 2 maybe 3 irrefutable errors. You cannot accuse them of lies or having an attitude problem as neither are demonstrable and neither are relevant to your entitlement. You can only highlight irrefutable errors. Things like saying someone with no sight “made good eye contact”. Generally though focusing on the HCP report is an error. By all means undermine the credibility if you have brilliant unarguable examples but it’s far better to weigh up the strength of your own arguments than the weakness or theirs. 

Final comment. I’ve no idea why Scope keep posting links like those posted by @Tori_Scope. The Scope link literally says 

• “send a completed mandatory reconsideration request form (GOV.UK)
• write a letter telling them why you disagree with their decision

If you choose to write a letter, include all the information required by the online form.”

I’m struggling to see what “insight” that offers in terms of the question posed in the title of the thread. 

The CA link is marginally better in that it at least suggests what might be included.