Late Mandatory Reconsideration Requests.

OK so I have been asked to help complete an application for PIP. The claimant applied a year ago and was refused 9 months ago. They did the initial application on their own using the Online PIP2, which in my opinion is very ambiguous and open to interpretation by neurodivergent people. The claimant has Autism and Severe Anxiety and despite this having read the original application I am frankly stunned it was refused, Ive read many refused applications in my time that refusal made sense on, but this one has blown my mind! So much so that I feel strongly that the assessor did not do the job properly and based on that I want to have it reviewed. The claimant has now come to the organisation I work for to seek assistance with an application as they do not understand the process. We are autism specific welfare rights advocates so it is very clear the assessor did not have appropriate knowledge of the condition. Has anyone successfully requested a Late MR, I know there is a process whereby it can be submitted up to 13 months after the decision but has anyone done this and been accepted if so can you share your experience please? I’m trying to decide whether to do a re-application or push the issue and make them review the original one and maybe force them to back date the award if possible, as it should never have been refused in the first place

Thanks in Advance for your responses :-)

You should never be the slightest bit deterred by the fact that an MR is late, provided you are within the 13 month window.

This is for two reasons - first, because it is rare for the DWP to object on the grounds of lateness to a request and second, because if they do object to the lateness, it does not actually matter anyway because you can still just go straight to the Tribunal for a full hearing on the merits as per R(CJ) & SG v SSWP (ESA) [2017] UKUT 324 (AAC), [2018] AACR 5.

I really don’t see any reason to make a new claim rather than MR/appeal unless your client’s health is substantially different now to how it was when the decision was made. The DM and then Tribunal will have to consider the facts as at the decision date and if your client is successful, benefit will be awarded from the date of claim (a year ago). Reclaiming now instead would just be to give up a year’s benefit. It would be possible to do both - i.e. to both pursue an MR and a new claim - but I would not really encourage this as it has a tendency to create a procedural mess you need to untangle later.

Thank you so much for your response, it just makes me even more determined to do the MR as I am a really stubborn person and cannot stand the injustice of it all and from my perspective this claimant is owed over a year of benefit as the DWP clearly did not carry out an appropriate assessment of needs! The application is from August last year, the refusal came in the December so by my calculation I’m at 9 months of the 13 month window. I’m going to MR and see how it goes :-)

Many Thanks
Mel