Late MR decision

Hello. i'm supporting one of our visitors with their ESA claim. We sent the mandatory reconsideration signed for on the 4th March and heard nothing. On the phone yesterday the DWP stated that it had only got to the decision maker on the 22nd and that my friend had to phone back on the 5th April. I can only assume that there is a backlog in the department. If /when we go to tribunal can we use this to make sure that my friend gets his backdated ESA to when the MR was actually received at the DWP rather than when the DM makes the decision on the grounds of it being an unacceptable amount of time making the decision?

Hi,

I'm afraid there is no time limit for DWP to get the MR completed. We have heard of them being decided in a single day while others take several months.

As far as payment is concerned, it doesn't matter anyway. If MR or tribunal find in favour of the claimant, payment will be continuous from the date the claim was initiated. The main phase payments will be calculated to start at 14 weeks (I assume this is a new claim, not a reassessment?).


May I suggest that you bookmark/favourite this on your web browser now so that you can find it easily in future? This will allow you to return with further questions or comments about this ESA without having to start a new topic each time. We ask members to keep everything relating to the same claim in one topic as it helps us enormously - and I hope you will find it useful too