Mandatory Reconsideration for PIP - how long?

crystaltips wrote: Received my letter a week last Friday saying their decision was the same. It looked identical to my original letter! I now don't know whether to take it to appeal now. I just don't know if I have the heart or energy. Its so difficult and, of course, Ive only got a couple of weeks in which to lodge the appeal.

The intention of PIP is to reduce the disability budget by at least 20%, as a result many existing DLA claimants will lose their current awards or at least have them reduced.

If you have no award then you have nothing to lose by going to appeal, but I won't attempt to minimise the stress and effort that this will require.

Any decision you make needs to be based on a realistic view that you can actually get enough points for an award, if you think you think that you have a weak chance of scoring only 8 points then you should think carefully about proceeding, obviously if you think you have a strong case for more then your view may be different.

Gordon

crystaltips wrote: The thing is I need the points for the fact that I don't travel about on my own. I get quite anxious about travelling places, even with my husband. I never go on the motorway and only ever go very short distances on my own (sometimes finding that difficult too). The problem is, how do you prove that?

I am afraid there is no easy answer to this, do you have any diagnosed conditions that would support these problems?

Do you have a copy of the assessment report? This will give you a better view of how your PIP claim form was viewed and how close you came to receiving points.

Have another look at the PIP Claim guide to see what points you think you should be scoring, we can then explain the requirement in more detail.

If you are pushed for time, make the appeal within the month normally allowed, you can always withdraw it with no fault if you decide you cannot manage it or you don't think you will score sufficient points.

Gordon