Mandatory reconsideration

Clifford

Welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry to hear that your latest assessment has not resulted in an award.

To answer your questions.

The PIP Descriptors have not been changed since you were last assessed although some of the DWP guidance has been updated. The change to the points from the use of aids and appliances has not been implement and will not now be implemented.

PIP assessors are not required to have a detailed understanding of a claimants conditions, they are all trained in Disability Assessment to a standard set by the DWP.

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process and template letters that you can use to make the request with.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.

Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;

"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"

than their opinions

"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.

When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.

Gordon

Clifford wrote: Is it possible to clarify something please.

I have lodged a reconsideration against my decision with the DWP. Do they wait for my extra information I will provide in support of my claim which I will send in the post or will they just go ahead and reconsider without any extra info.

I have put in my letter that I will send them some extra supporting information for them to consider.

Hope that makes sense thanks

You should be given four weeks to send it in but we have had members report that the MR was completed before they had a chance to do so, so sooner is better than later, also, if you have not mentioned that you will be sending further information, you should contact the DWP to let them know.

Gordon

PS - Mods are only online at certain times of the day, so it can sometimes be a while before your post appears in the forum, so there's no need to duplicate your osts.

Gordon