16 year old Aspergers been turned down for PIP after Mandatory reconsideration.

Hi Inapickle

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explains where everything is.

Welcome to Benefits and Work

I am a little perplexed when you say you asked for a MR on the 06/01/22 but the MR date on the letter states 14/09/20, if your MR was 14/09/20 then you would be out of time to appeal!!

I would contact DWP and query the date on your sons MR letter as you need this date for when you start your appeal.

You will also need a copy of your son's assessors report called a PA4 unless he had a paper assessment in which case the report is called a PA3.

When you have the assessors report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and you will now be able to argue against them.

I usually use a highlighter to highlight any inaccuracies, once you have gone through the report you then set out why you are appealing the decision and go through each descriptor one at a time why you disagree with the assessor and try and match it with any supporting documents you may have sent in.

Understand that the assessor is offering an opinion when they say 'in my opinion' your son can do the PIP activities, tackling these head-on is unlikely to be successful, you need to show that the basis of that opinion is founded on incorrect information, so try and refer to your evidence to undermine what they have said., remember they are just an opinion which is not based on fact.

Also, try and stick to issues that lead to your scoring points, I often hear members referring to the assessors spelling, as an example, whilst it may show a lack of professionalism, raising it as an issue isn't going to help you get an award.

Your primary task is to show that your son meets the criteria, there are many reasons he 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;

Lastly, make sure that you understand the criteria that your son is being assessed against, you can put the best case forward that is possible but you won't score points if you do not meet the PIP Descriptors.

You say that you requested a MR so the next stage is to produce a submission, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide, halfway down the page; www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

You can submit your appeal on line and upload any supporting documents such as your submission;
www.gov.uk/appeal-benefit-decision/submit-appeal

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.

Gary

Inapickle

You mention a report for Incapacity Benefit.

If your son only turned 16 in the last year or so then he cannot have ever been assessed for IB!

If such a report was indeed been mentioned then you should be asking the DWP where they have got this report from.

Gordon