PIP Mandatory Reconsideration timescale 10 April 2022 at 2:47AM edited 25 April 2022 at 4:20PM in Disability money matters 49 replies 3.1K views

poppy12345

Ginsipper007 said:

poppy12345 said:

Seeking_Advice_Please said:

 they did not contact any of my relevant medical professionals

It's very rare they contact anyone. It's your responsibilty to send the evidence to support your claim. The same applies for the MR and Tribunal, if it gets that far. You need to make sure you send all relevant evidence. 

 PIP, under statute, is there to support folks to meet any additional costs that arise as a direct result of their disability.  This is the prime criteria, how much does your disability cost you (charges for therapy, cab fares, employing a cleaner, etc). 

I'm sorry but i disagree with this part. PIP isn't awarded because your disability costs you extra money. It's awarded if you meet the descriptors and score enough points needed for an award based on how your conditions affect you.

You can have a disability but not be entitled to PIP because if you don't meet the descriptors and score those points, there's no award. There are some out there that fall into this catagory. (and i'm not saying the OP does)

Not everyone has extra costs because of their disability.

Alice_Holt

   

Here are some actions that other forumites reading this thread could take, that may speed up the reply to their MR:   

i)  Chasing up PIP after, say 3/4 weeks, and confirming that your MR has been received / is to be actioned,
ii)  Involving your MP after 12 weeks,
iii)  In extreme cases a pre-action judicial review letter citing undue delay in decision making and its impact on you -   
https://cpag.org.uk/welfare-rights/judicial-review/judicial-review-pre-action-letters 


Edited to remove PIP appeal information and reference to useful internet appeal resources, which seem to have severely annoyed the OP.

No annoyance was intended, merely an intention to help a forumite facing the stressful experience of having to challenge / appeal a DWP PIP decision, after  reading the often upsetting (and inaccurate) comments of a DWP decision-maker. 

Seeking_Advice_Please

I am quite annoyed now. Do you work for DWP by any chance? I am NOT asking for ANY advice. I just wanted to hear how long other people have had to wait! I have no idea how my simple request has been so misunderstood. I would find it helpful to know how long people have had to wait/been waiting. Why is that such a problem for some people I have no idea! I'm no longer going to reply to any posts that are not related to my original post! Completely bizarre!

Seeking_Advice_Please

And I was just about ok until I started to receive off-the-topic responses! This site has been more stressful than my MR!! PLEASE stop directing advice to myself. I am sure your responses would be appreciated on other posts. I started this post to cut through the majority of the above and hear about other people's direct experiences. Now people will have to read through irrelevant to the post comments just to try and find information actually relating to the post. Extremely stressful.

Seeking_Advice_Please

chrisw said:

Seeking_Advice_Please said:

*if you don't feel my question is worthwhile, no need to comment, unless of course, you need to tell me it is a pointless question.

Whilst you may have started the thread, it's useful information for others as well.

I have nothing to contribute to the topic nor any particular questions to ask but came onto the thread to get a better understanding of what might happen should I end up with a MR at my next review or in the future.

So I appreciate the comments and experience of the other posters even if you don't.

Good for you, but the post hasn't fulfilled it's purpose, unfortunately. 

Newly_retired

Not completely bizarre. You have been politely informed that there are no strict timescales.
 You have also been given excellent advice from some experienced people who are very generous with their time in trying to help people to get the best outcome out of a system which is tricky to navigate and does not always get it right.
I am sad to see that you are not only unappreciative but also curt and dismissive of those who are here to help. But maybe you are very unwell, or in a lot of pain; if so it is understandable.

Seeking_Advice_Please

Ginsipper007 said:

poppy12345 said:

Seeking_Advice_Please said:

 they did not contact any of my relevant medical professionals

It's very rare they contact anyone. It's your responsibilty to send the evidence to support your claim. The same applies for the MR and Tribunal, if it gets that far. You need to make sure you send all relevant evidence. 

Not exactly.  Essentially, the problem appears to revolve around what constitutes 'evidence'.  From my experience of the last 18 months, helping 4 different people, all of whom failed at application but were successful at MR, the DWP is incorrectly applying the term 'evidence'.  Put bluntly, they're ignoring what people write in the form (not counting it as 'evidence') and relying on the assessor's opinion (counting that as 'evidence').  So when we say 'evidence', we need to be clear about what they're meant to be accepting, i.e. the written information submitted by the claimant.

In terms of other documents people can supply, remember, PIP isn't based on diagnosis, instead it's dependent on impact, and in particular the financial impact.  PIP, under statute, is there to support folks to meet any additional costs that arise as a direct result of their disability.  This is the prime criteria, how much does your disability cost you (charges for therapy, cab fares, employing a cleaner, etc).  All you have to do is look at the Act.  From my experience of the last 18 months, the DWP are operating outside of this Act.  When it comes down to it, therefore, the solution is monumentally simple, do you have receipts?  The rest is just gravy.

In other words, it's the responsibility of the DWP to ensure they're complying with the intention / spirit / terms of the Act, and if this means that they need to seek additional evidence, well, that's on them.  But here's what they can't do, ignore the written 'evidence' of the applicant in favour of the 'opinion' of the assessor.  The former must stand as fact and the latter as interpretation.  This is basically the law.

^^ Perhaps the OP would have found a comment that put the ball in the right court, so to speak, more helpful.  It's a grind applying for PIP, especially for the first time.  The reason I ended up helping 4 different people (+ 1 that's currently outstanding) is that I had enough distance to not take it (i.e. the responses of the DWP) personally.  I'm not an advice worker, although in a former life I was a lawyer, and after the first success more folks asked for help.  Once I realised what the problem was, i.e. assessors using their shonky knowledge to form wholly inappropriate opinions and the DWP operating outside of the Act and statutory guidance, it became relatively easy to challenge their decisions.  

Hope it goes ok SAP.

I completely agree, Ginsipper007 xx

Seeking_Advice_Please

poppy12345 said:

It's a public forum and you can't stop people from posting. How on earth was i supposed to know that you had sent evidence, the comment i made was a general comment that i would always add when advising that "they very rarely contact anyone for any evidence" if someone says "they didn't contact anyone from my list"

If you don't like the advice i give then you can add me to your ignore list and then you won't see my comments unless someone quotes me.

Because medical professionals hold the most important evidence! And their details were sent! Goodness me. Thank you for advising re. the block list. Have a nice day.

Seeking_Advice_Please

Newly_retired said:

Not completely bizarre. You have been politely informed that there are no strict timescales.
 You have also been given excellent advice from some experienced people who are very generous with their time in trying to help people to get the best outcome out of a system which is tricky to navigate and does not always get it right.
I am sad to see that you are not only unappreciative but also curt and dismissive of those who are here to help. But maybe you are very unwell, or in a lot of pain; if so it is understandable.

And I have politely and consistently advised that I am not interested in documented time scales, but to hear other people's experiences directly! No amount of experience of quoting well-documented information will compensate for hearing current/recent claiment's experience! I am flabbergasted with the amount of confusion that has been created from such a simple post. It is not being dismissive towards people's experience, at all! I would politely advise a rocket scientist who responded to my post with details of the moon, that however interesting and informative, it was irrelevant to my post!! I suggest you go back to the start of the thread and see how I have tried to politely explain this to people over and over again, who believe they have jurisdiction to tell me what I am allowed to find helpful! Completely bizarre! All of the information I am sure would be helpful on another post, but not on a post asking for people's experience! There is a huge difference between experience and premonitions!

Seeking_Advice_Please

I stand by what I have said, completely separately from my reasons for applying for pip!