Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the level of rejection at Mandatory Consideration stage of Personal Independence Payment appeals.

The department is committed to making the right decision as early as possible in the claims process.

Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) is a valuable process that supports the resolution of disputes as early as possible, so that claimants do not need to appeal, reducing unnecessary demand on HMCTS. At the MR stage, a different Decision Maker will look at the decision, taking into account the existing evidence, together with any new evidence provided by the claimant. Decisions will be changed at the MR stage where the evidence supports this.