removed from support group

good morning I receved a phone call a few weeks ago saying that I had only been awarded 21 points over three activities after my medical assessment and had been placed into the back to work focus group ... after not receving any letter or correspondence reguarding this .I phoned the dwp this morning and was told that I can not ask for a mandatory reconsideration but that I have to write too them asking to be placed back into the support group can someone please tell me exactly what options I have and how I go about challenging this thank you

Hello Mollymoo

Since you have been informed that you cannot apply for Mandatory Reconsideration. I think you will have to satisfy the Decision Maker that you qualify for the support group even though you haven't actually scored sufficient points to do so.

You can prove that you qualify in two ways; either claim that you qualify on Exemption Grounds, or that you qualify because a descriptor applies to you.

To find out which category you fall into, you will have to download the ESA claim guide and check on pages 17 - 20, where full details of the exemption grounds/descriptors are available.

If you decide that you DO qualify because you satisfy one of the descriptors, you will have to explain this fully in your letter to the DWP, and also submit any supportive evidence.from your medical support team. The guides will explain fully how to present your evidence and what supporting medical information you need to send.

As usual, other members of the forum might be able to offer other suggestions to help you.
Good luck with your application.

You have one month from the date on the decision letter in which to request Mandatory Reconsideration. If you have not had a decision letter, the clock has not even started running!

You might need to ask for a call-back from a call centre manager as these people tend to have more knowledge than the people who answer the phones.

You need to know whether DWP say a letter has been sent. If so, when.

A late request for MR can be submitted up to 13 months after the decision as long as the claimant can show 'good cause'. What constitutes 'good cause' is not stipulated - but not getting the decision letter should do it!

Asking for a 'supersession' of your claim means that you would have to prove that your condition has worsened since the last decision. You have not said anything to make me think this is the case.

When I asked for my DLA award to be looked at again I never received a decision letter even though DWP said a decision had been made on my claim. When I said I wanted a letter sent out as I wanted to appeal a couple of months had passed since their decision but as Mrs Hurtyback states the one month starts from the date of the letter.

You need to contact DWP and ask for your decision letter they are trying to fob you off saying you can't ask for a mandatory reconsideration , you need to have this done before you can appeal.