Has the D.W.P rang you ....and made an offer !!!

Missy-D1956

Has anyone here either been rung or contacted by the Department of Work & Pensions with a view to settling a benefit rate before a Tribunal Hearing or during a Mandatory Reconsideration stage.

I sort of remember reading either here at Martin Lewis or other disability sites of this happening ??

calcotti

This does happen and there seems to have been an increase in it happening. It's almost as if the DWP are actually reading the MRs and/or appeal submissions!

If the award is revised then the appeal lapses - however the new decision does come with appeal rights so can still be challenged if the claimant is still unhappy. I think that if the decision is revised while waiting for appeal the claimant can go straight to making a new appeal, if they wish, without going through MR first but would need to do some investigation to confirm that.

Alice_Holt

calcotti wrote:

If the award is revised then the appeal lapses - however the new decision does come with appeal rights so can still be challenged if the claimant is still unhappy.
I think that if the decision is revised while waiting for appeal the claimant can go straight to making a new appeal, if they wish, without going through MR first but would need to do some investigation to confirm that.

Quite often though the DWP offer is a lesser award than is being sought, OP.

Yes, I also understand that if the appellant does not accept their appeal has lapsed it will continue.
If the OP thinks the offer does not fully reflect their condition /abilities (usually PIP related), I believe it can sometimes make sense to accept the offer (locking it in, as it were), but then continue with the appeal.

A tribunal is very unlikely to remove the revised DWP offer, so that becomes the baseline, and then the tribunal looks at whether a higher award applies. (Although the DWP don't present it like that).

calcotti

The whole idea of 'an offer' is of course ridiculous. The award is supposed to reflect the needs of the claimant and although establishing that isn't an exact science it shouldn't really be a 'negotiation' either.

Missy-D1956

Do you recall anyone on here stating they had an offer made ??
I agree with whats is being said in reply to my question.
I also find it difficult to understand the complete turn around that happens from Assessment 0 points to Tribunal Awards.
But that is another story.

poppy12345

Missy-D1956 wrote: »

Do you recall anyone on here stating they had an offer made ??

I recall a few people yes.

Foxy16

Yes they rang me, few years ago I was invited to apply for PIP as my DLA was ending, then a few weeks later (nobody can tell me this wasn't a coincidence), out of the blue I received a WCA date, was not given a chance to fill in and send an ESA50 or recent medical letters like before). The assessor was nasty would not let me fully explain anything. Put in a MR which remained the same, and although I was scared I complained to CHDA about the assessor, they reprimanded the assessor and apologised. By now I had appealed to the tribunal, (in the meantime I was turned down for PIP as well), DWP rung me offerring to put me back in WRAG subject to another assessment, as I had nothing to hide and my health had deteriorated not improved I accepted, wish I hadn't, different assessor who was a bit nicer, but told so many lies. So I had to go through everything again.

I went through 19months of total hell and stress, developed another life long illness that is caused by stress, (one of my Consultants' has actually written in a letter stating that this has been caused by the DWP, lol). I won both tribunals' but the ESA one I had to send over 20 letters of evidence to the tribunal that the DWP had omitted from the bundle! Tribunal stated my appeal was backed up by medical evidence...

I was due an ESA reassessment last year but nothing to date, hate any post being delivered and panic if I see a brown envelope, this year I will need to be reassessed for PIP, and I bet that ESA happens at the same time. Annoyed as if they had not increased the retirment age, at least I wouldn't have to deal with ESA, if the worst happens don't know if I can go through all this again.

gingerbreadmen

This one makes for a good read. The whole system is a complete joke. How you can go from 0 points to Enhanced from a phone just show how mucked up the whole system is. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6061216/dwp-pip-tribunal

Missy-D1956

Foxy16 wrote: »

Yes they rang me, few years ago I was invited to apply for PIP as my DLA was ending, then a few weeks later (nobody can tell me this wasn't a coincidence), out of the blue I received a WCA date, was not given a chance to fill in and send an ESA50 or recent medical letters like before). The assessor was nasty would not let me fully explain anything. Put in a MR which remained the same, and although I was scared I complained to CHDA about the assessor, they reprimanded the assessor and apologised. By now I had appealed to the tribunal, (in the meantime I was turned down for PIP as well), DWP rung me offerring to put me back in WRAG subject to another assessment, as I had nothing to hide and my health had deteriorated not improved I accepted, wish I hadn't, different assessor who was a bit nicer, but told so many lies. So I had to go through everything again.

I went through 19months of total hell and stress, developed another life long illness that is caused by stress, (one of my Consultants' has actually written in a letter stating that this has been caused by the DWP, lol). I won both tribunals' but the ESA one I had to send over 20 letters of evidence to the tribunal that the DWP had omitted from the bundle! Tribunal stated my appeal was backed up by medical evidence...

I was due an ESA reassessment last year but nothing to date, hate any post being delivered and panic if I see a brown envelope, this year I will need to be reassessed for PIP, and I bet that ESA happens at the same time. Annoyed as if they had not increased the retirment age, at least I wouldn't have to deal with ESA, if the worst happens don't know if I can go through all this again.

Wow it sounds like you have been through the ringer. Same here....every year another assessment followed by an M.R. and a long wait for Tribunal...you would find it hard not to call this pure harrassment. At the end of my tether

Missy-D1956

calcotti wrote: »

The whole idea of 'an offer' is of course ridiculous. The award is supposed to reflect the needs of the claimant and although establishing that isn't an exact science it shouldn't really be a 'negotiation' either.

I do agree with you. So it makes me worried that they would ring some disabled persons and almost barter with them. Surely like you stated it should reflect the needs of the claimant.
How are the D.W.P. getting away with it ?

calcotti

You may find this interesting https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/15480/#73333
and tthe linked article
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/resources/article/offer-you-cant-refuse

I think the key point here is that if a DM looks at the papers and simply changes the decision then the appeal lapses. By contacting the claimant and telling them that the DM is minded to change the decision they give the claimant the opportunity to say that they want to keep the existing appeal going.

As noted above however the claimant can accept the revised decision and then lodge a new appeal if they wish. Although this delays the ultimate appeal date it creates an immediate award (with backdating) so there is some income stream.

I hadn’t thought of it like this before. Perhaps in this case instead of ‘trading’ you could see it as giving the claimant the opportunity to retain control over the appeal process although the CPAG article certainly makes a strong case that it will rarely, if ever, make sense to reject the ‘offer’.