PIP Award Review - assessment & MR

I have a client whose award for PIP recently came up for renewal. He received a call from the DWP in Jan 2023 telling him, essentially, that they were going to maintain the award - standard rate for daily living (11 points) & mobility (8 points) - which the first-tier tribunal had made in 2020. He was given the choice of either accepting or if he did not want to do so and seek a higher award then to undergo an assessment. He was put on the spot and instinctively opted for maintaining the award. He has received the decision from the DWP and they have offered him a 10 year award period - he is aged 62. We have discussed his case with him and seeking MR - he does we feel have a reasonable case - as well as the pitfalls. My one question is whether the DWP will if he seeks MR then opt for him to have an assessment. Is this likely?

Sounds like what has happened is:
- Award up for review. DWP in an (unusual in my experience) effort to be reasonable(?) phones client and asks if his condition has changed (given the 10 year award, I’m guessing this was already a long-term award DWP wasn’t expecting to change/improve).
- Client responds: No.
- DWP accepts this, and makes their decision.

It would have been an opportunity for your client to report a change - which would indeed likely have resulted in an assessment (though not necessarily - they’re not mandatory for DWP to carry out).

If the award should be higher, the most favourable option for your client would have been to request a supersession X time ago.
The current outcome is the second most favourable outcome. He can now request a revision which will go back to the date of the new decision.
Conversely, this being a DWP initiated review, if he’d reported a change they would have carried out an assessment and any appeal of that would only bite from the date of a decision after that (Actually I’m slightly in doubt at this point, as it occurs to me: If DWP effectively asked him to report a change - could that be taken as a reported change (supersession request) from the client, so the date of a new decision, following an assessment, should go back to that date anyway?).

Anyhow, your client has a decision - I don’t see any barriers to MR/appealing that in the normal fashion.

I suppose it could theoretically make DWP want to carry out an assessment - but an eventual appeal would go back to a date prior to the assessment anyway. The assessment could only be used as evidence to reaffirm their current decision - more cost effective for DWP to just wait and let the appeal resolve itself.

Could it prompt a reassessment down the road? Only realistic if DWP changes their decision at MR and initiates an assessment after that (or after an appeal award ends, but given the circumstances I assume a tribunal would make a long and high award).
If DWP deliberately made a short award at MR (with the intention of carrying out an assessment asap etc), you could just appeal the length of award.

Overall seems like an unfavourable position for DWP to put themselves in.

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, perhaps I hadn’t made this clear but client was invited to and did complete an award review form last June (2022) and as then mentioned received the phone call in January 2023 as to the award - see my initial post.

If we’re saying this was a 10 year award and there is now a further 10 year award then I’m struggling to see much in the way of down sides for the claimant in pursuing this.

- Although claimants worry about such things, reduction or removal of the existing award is a negligible to non-existent risk.
- DWP were not in a position to assert that a change would trigger reassessment. What they really mean is that the caller assumes it would go for reassessment but that’s simply not the case.

If the evidence of a change and extra points were compelling then a DM would simply revise upwards.

Some DMs would do a knee jerk referral for assessment but the decision as to whether that happens is on the AP. Given 2 long awards and the most recent 1 on the papers it strikes me that an assessment would be quite unlikely.

Hi Mike,

That’s great and thanks for the reply