Does this mean I will not be forced to attend an assessment?

Hello. I hope you are keeping cool enough.

My PIP claim had a review date of February 2024. I received the review forms through the door in March 2023 (as expected). I filled the review form out having taken the Benefits and Work course to refresh my memory as to how to best present how my disabilities affect my day to day life. It was incredibly helpful. I had never had a review before.

I then gathered together what ever evidence I could supply and sent it all off within the required timeframe by Royal Mail Special Delivery. This was on 16 April 2023. I have read that PIP planned reassessments/reviews applications are currently taking between 16 weeks and one year. Needless to say I have been extremely worried about it all. Today I received the following text message from the DWP: “Your PIP review is complete. You should receive your decision letter in 2 weeks. Once you receive your letter, contact us if you have any questions. Do not call before you get the letter as we will not be able to tell you the decision. Please remember to contact us if your circumstances change.” So that is only about eight weeks ago.

Has anyone ever got a text like that before? It is my understanding that the vast majority of people who submit a PIP re-appraisal due to it running out, have got to have a face to face or phone assessment from ATOS or whoever? Is this text an ominous sign?

Thank you so much for any insight at all. Porridge x

Thank you so much BIS, I will let you know. P x

Hello there! I hope you are well.

I have now received a decision letter about my PIP (planned) reassessment. I was lucky because I did not have to attend an assessment and I also think that the DWP did not refer my case to an outside contractor. In my application I made it clear, with evidence, that I have severe problems with moving about. I was not awarded anything for mobility so this time I am going to request a mandatory reconsideration. I also made it clear that I was born with my disabilities and that they will only ever get worse. But I was given a five year award.

Anyway, in the process I have discovered a neat trick which I would like to pass on to other members of B&W. If you receive the following text from the DWP: “ Your PIP review is complete. You should receive your decision letter in 2 weeks. Once you receive your letter, contact us if you have any questions. Do not call before you get the letter as we will not be able to tell you the decision. Please remember to contact us if your circumstances change.” It is till worth ringing them up. During the menu options and the queueing process you will be told when you next PIP payment is due and how much it will be for. This will answer your question as to whether or not you have been granted PiP and at what level. I do not know if this trick works for anyone who is a new claimant.

I am now going to look at the resources to help me discover how to set about requesting a Mandatory Reconsideration.

Thanks again and have a lovely day.
Porridge x

Dear BIS, Thank you so much for your sage advice.

I realised, today, reading the award letter, that the DWP had simply not read any of my answers to the questions in the PIP renewal form and had just done a tick-box exercise and awarded me exactly the same points as they had four years ago at end of the original application (which were also inaccurate and unfair). I have recently been diagnosed with a severe (and invisible) disability which I was born with and which has hugely impacted my whole life, both mobility and daily living, but for which I had no diagnosis when I originally submitted the PIP application (and no grounds to defend at at tribunal). However, in that original PIP application I still stated the ways in which life was a major struggle (because of that unknown problem), but all that was completely ignored by the HP back then because of a lack of a diagnosis of any kind. I was viewed as being a liar and dismissed (although I did get enough points for other evidenced problems).

I have already requested an MR this time, and I have specifically stated that my answers in the PiP review form were completely ignored on this occasion, as if I had never even written them and the fresh medical evidence was also completely ignored (and I hope that it is obvious that the decision maker on this occasion was both lazy and sloppy) and I also hope that the DWP will be able to see that a tribunal panel is likely to look dimly upon the fact that during this review the DWP failed to take into account this heavyweight new evidence (from three different doctors). I will report back to you. I might ring up and ask for a PA5 but I really don’t think there will be one or it will be blank.

Kind regards, Porridge x