Mandatory Reconsideration Risk

I understand the risk involved when asking for a Mandatory Reconsideration after being moved from the SG to the WRAG as you could be found fit for work if you have had a F2F. But is there any risk involved if you haven't been called for a F2F & your reassessment was on paper only?

Also, should you send any extra evidence at the point of asking for a reconsideration? Is there any obligation to go on to appeal if your reconsideration is not successful?

Many thanks
Francis

Hi Frances,

1) That is an interesting question! As you know, a claimant cannot be found 'fit for work' initially without a face2face assessment. I'm not sure of the situation when the claim is reconsidered.

2) Yes, send in your extra evidence when you request your reconsideration if you hope for your claim to be changed to Support Group at recon. However, as this will probably make the process take longer, some people prefer to get this over and done with ASAP and keep their supporting evidence for the tribunal.

3) You do not have to proceed to appeal if you do not wish to. Indeed, you could lodge an appeal and cancel at any stage before the hearing if you wanted to.

See also Mandatory Reconsiderations have begun

I would imagine as part of the reconsideration process they could call you for an assessment if they wished. There is always an element of risk attached to a reconsideration or appeal unless you have been turned down completely.

Hi

would it not be better to submit as much evidence to the dwp at the point of reconsideration the reason i say this is at my tribunal hearing they made it clear they can only assess if the decision was wrong at the point the decision was made with the eveidence they had at that time, the tribunal i went to totally ignored evidence i supplied whilst waiting for the hearing as they state it was not available to the DWP decision maker when they came to there decision so upheld the original decision yet my evidence was strong enough and got me 18 months support group on the following esa submission which happen to be the evidence i supplied the tribunal whilst waiting the previous year.

satmanbasil wrote: Hi

would it not be better to submit as much evidence to the dwp at the point of reconsideration the reason i say this is at my tribunal hearing they made it clear they can only assess if the decision was wrong at the point the decision was made with the eveidence they had at that time, the tribunal i went to totally ignored evidence i supplied whilst waiting for the hearing as they state it was not available to the DWP decision maker when they came to there decision so upheld the original decision yet my evidence was strong enough and got me 18 months support group on the following esa submission which happen to be the evidence i supplied the tribunal whilst waiting the previous year.

Hi s,

There are pros and cons with respect to how much information that you choose to submit in the first instance.

The situation regarding "Appealing" has changed somewhat since the introduction of Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) on 28/10/13 :

Mandatory Reconsiderations Explained

Before the introduction of MR, a claimant who had been found fit for work could provide a fresh fit note and submit an appeal, this would entitle the claimant to Assessment Rate ESA straight away, and the appeal would undergo an automatic reconsideration before being sent to The TS if the recon did not alter the decision.

Since the introduction of MR a claimant who is found fit for work cannot appeal until they have first requested and received an MR.

Whilst the MR is ongoing they will not be payed the Assessment Rate of ESA, therefore if they have no other income to fall back on, they may be forced to claim JSA.

In this scenario, as an appeal cannot be lodged directly to The TS, until the claimant has received notice stating that they have undergone an MR, they may wish to speed the MR process up by providing minimal evidence in the first instance.

Once an appeal has been lodged and accepted by The TS, payment of Assessment Rate ESA can then be paid.

This scenario would not be the case if the claimant was appealing WRAG to SG as payment of WRAG would remain in payment whilst the MR and Appeal were ongoing.

I am surprised that the Tribunal did not take your new evidence into account, as they are supposed to re-look at the adverse decision, taking all available evidence into account.

As long as the new evidence was pertinent to the time of the original adverse decision, and not pertaining to a change or deterioration in your conditions since the time of the adverse decision, it should be taken into account.

bro58