Possible PIP review outcomes

I've read about reviews in the guide, but am a bit confused by what the possible outcomes are...

I understand if the DWP DM can make a decision based on what you've sent they will & if not they will forward to capita.

But what decisions can the DWP DM make (assuming they dont send it on to capita)

I'm a bit confused as my award was originally to end may 2023, so had assumed the options available to the DM were

1) not enough evidence - send to capita
2) reduce or increase points - which would determine whether the remaining time on your original award was paid at the same, or different rates. Or worst case they could even end the award early.
But does that decision relate only to the life of your original award or do they also have the option to actually renew/extend your award?

So for example my original award due to end may 2023, & I just sent review off. Just wondering if even in the best case scenario, i'll have to go through it all again next year anyway... or whether its possible I might get a reprieve for another couple of yrs?

BIS wrote:

It's not really accurate to say that if the DWP DM can make a decision, they will not forward the form to Capita - because only a small minority of reviews are paper-based (less than 7%) - so it is the DWP's intention to assess most claimants regardless of what their forms say or how much evidence they send in. BIS

Ah, so a 'review' isn't really a 'review' at all, but really in practice it's them beginning the process of deciding whether to renew your claim or not, instead of waiting to get to the end of your award?

So it's highly unlikely i will get away without an assessment by Capita then? - since 93% of people have one.

Ok thanks BIS

in which case i'd like to make a suggestion to forward on to the people who write them for the next update to the guides please ...
that the following except (copied in blue below) from page 130 regarding 'what happens after you return the form", be modified slightly....? Because (particularly the bits in bold) can easily be read to mean that if the DWP DM can make a decision, they will not forward the form to Capita... & that this is their aim/preference in order to save money. The message i understood from this section of the guide was that if you get your supporting evidence & do the form well, its entirely possible that the DM will just renew the award without using Capita/IAS

If the case manager cannot make a decision, then all the information is forwarded to Independent Assessment Services or Capita for assessment by a health professional.

According to the DWP the health professional will have access to the Award Review form, any
additional evidence obtained by the case manager and “all relevant medical evidence”. What is not clear is whether the most recent PIP 2 ‘How your disability affects you’ form must be consulted by the health professional.

The health professional will initially attempt to make their assessment solely on the papers.
Only if that isn’t possible will you be required to attend a face-to-face assessment.
A decision will then be made by a case manager in the normal way.

So, bear in mind when completing the Award Review form that your initial aim is initially to try to convince, not a health professional, but a DWP case manager that your evidence is sufficiently accurate and detailed for a decision to be made.

The purpose of the Award Review form is to speed up the renewal process and cut costs by not involving Independent Assessment Services or Capita. So, there is pressure on the case manager to make a decision themselves where there is strong evidence to allow them to do so. So good supporting evidence, especially medical evidence, may make a big difference.

Clearly that was my misunderstanding but I think its likely others might read it that way too, & it would be good to know clearly at the outset that in practice, your experiences shows that " only a small minority of reviews are paper-based (less than 7%)" & that it's actually "the DWP's intention to assess most claimants regardless of what their forms say or how much evidence they send in".

I'm not in any way criticising the guide, it's just a suggestion, because i'd not have known that without asking the specific question on the forum & my supporting evidence is pretty good i think, so i thought i had a realistically good hope/chance of a DWP only decision & would have had an unpleasant surprise to be called for an assessment.