mobility appeal

Hello SA,

Welcome to forums. I think your real name may be showing, if you would to change you can find instructions here.

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The appeal process starts with requesting a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR). This is where you tell the DWP that you think they awarded you the incorrect award, tell them why and ask them to reconsider it. It is not possible to appeal before you have done this.

In order to make your best possible case for your MR we recommend that you request your PA4 from the DWP. This is the report the assessor wrote about you together with their recommendations. You can ring the DWP to request this.

You should submit your MR within a month of receiving the decision to your application, although if there is a good reason the DWP will sometimes give you an extension to this.

I would suggest you read our guides to Appeals and MR to maximise your chances of success.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip (You need to scroll down a bit)

Hope this helps,
Catherine

Hi Steve

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

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The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report (PA4) if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them. I usually go through an assessment report with a highlighter highlighting anything that is incorrect.

Understand that the assessor is offering an opinion when they say that you 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.

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 you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you 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 you are 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.

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

Hello again Steve.

There is really nothing to lose by going to a Tribunal. You are right, the more evidence you can produce the stronger your case will be.

If possible I would see if you can get someone to help you with this. There is more paperwork to do and more paperwork to read which most people find hard to get through without a PIP buddy. If you can find a benefits advisor to support you, then that is perfect, but it can be just a friend or relative who you can trust with the intimate details that get revealed in the PIP process.

You only have a month to apply to the Tribunal from the date you got the Mandatory Reconsideration decision. If you go over this time, it is possible that they might still consider it, but you will need to tell them why you were late applying.

If you click here it will take you to our PIP guides. If you scroll down there is a section devoted to MR and Appeals.

I completely understand about the process being gruelling, so I congratulate you for being willing to fight on!

I know it is difficult at the moment with covid, but you might wish to see if you can find an agency which is local to you which can help you with this stage of the process.

This can be a helpful link in locating someone.

Do come back to us if we can be of more help,
Catherine