Write a Mandatory Reconsideration Letter With AI

The brown envelope says no, and a stranger has just decided your child doesn’t need the help you give every day. The anger is real, and you’re allowed to feel it. Here’s a calmer way to use it: a mandatory reconsideration is your formal right to make the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) look again, and a free AI assistant can help you turn that anger into a tight, specific letter that answers each refusal reason with evidence.

Start with this prompt

Open the assistant, paste this in, and fill in the brackets. It pulls the refusal reasons out of the letter and drafts a rebuttal for each one.

I’m requesting a mandatory reconsideration of a [DLA / PIP] decision for [my child, aged X / myself]. Here is the full text of the decision letter: [paste the letter text]. I believe the decision is wrong because [describe in your own words what they missed or got wrong]. Please list each reason the decision-maker gives for refusing, then draft a mandatory reconsideration letter that answers each reason in turn. Quote the letter’s exact words for each reason, explain why it’s incorrect using my evidence: [list what you have, for example a paediatrician’s letter, a school report, a four-week care diary], and include a specific example for each point. Keep the tone polite and factual, and use direct language like “requires help every time” rather than “sometimes struggles”.

The assistant asks questions before it drafts, so a rough start is fine. New to ChatGPT? Our step-by-step setup guide gets you a free account. If the decision letter is on paper, our free document tools page pulls the text out in your browser, with nothing uploaded, ready to paste in. Delete the National Insurance and reference numbers first; they aren’t needed for drafting.

What makes a strong reconsideration

A reconsideration letter shouldn’t repeat your original application. It takes each reason in turn, one reason, one rebuttal, one piece of proof. As you work through the draft with the assistant, keep these habits:

• Say exactly which reason you’re challenging and why it’s wrong. Ask the assistant to “list every reason this decision gives for refusing, in plain English” first, because refusal reasons are often buried or vague. Then answer each one on its own.
• Use the decision letter’s own words. Letters talk about “supervision”, “attention”, and “care needs”, and your letter lands better when it quotes those terms back. DLA is assessed on how much extra help your child needs compared with a child of the same age.
• Point to evidence the decision-maker missed, and aim it at a named gap. If they said “no evidence of night-time needs”, a fortnight of dated diary entries showing 3am wake-ups answers that directly. A general letter about the diagnosis doesn’t.
• Add any new evidence, but don’t wait for it. Letters from GPs and consultants who know your child carry the most weight. Ask the assistant to replace hedging like “I think he needs” with “he requires”, and to spell out what would happen without the help.

We cover the wider process in DLA rejected? What to do next. If your young person is 16 or over, the decision may be about PIP rather than DLA; see DLA to PIP transition at 16.

A few key facts

• A different decision-maker at the DWP reviews your case, not the person who refused it.
• You can request reconsideration by phone, by letter, or using form CRMR1.
• If reconsideration fails, you can appeal to an independent tribunal, where around 60% of DLA cases are decided in the family’s favour. Hearings typically take place 3 to 9 months after you appeal.

Check it yourself before you send

AI drafts; you verify. Before anything goes in the post:

• Your deadline. Find the date on the decision letter and count one month forward. If you’re close to the line, phone the DWP to start the request and follow up in writing.
• Current figures. Confirm anything the draft mentions against DLA for children or PIP on GOV.UK, not a number the AI produced.
• Every example. Each incident must be real, yours, and accurately dated. An invented or exaggerated detail can undermine the genuine ones.
• The details to include. The letter needs the claimant’s name, National Insurance number, the date of the decision, and the reference from the letter. Send it however the decision letter directs, and if you post it, use recorded delivery and keep a copy. If the answer is still no, you have one month from your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice to appeal.

Getting help

You don’t have to do this alone, and free expert help exists alongside the assistant.

• Citizens Advice advisers help families with reconsiderations and appeals, and can tell you whether your evidence covers the gaps.
• Contact, the charity for families with disabled children, publishes practical guidance on DLA, PIP, and challenging decisions.
• Your local SENDIASS offers impartial advice and may help you gather evidence, especially if your child has an EHCP.

Sources and further reading

Legislation and official guidance

• Social Security Act 1998, section 9 (the legal basis for revising DWP decisions)
• Mandatory reconsideration: how to ask for one
• Appeal a benefit decision to a tribunal
• DLA for children: official guidance
• PIP: official guidance

Statistics

• Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, Oct-Dec 2025 (DLA appeal outcomes at hearing)