PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Social Security Benefits and Welfare Tax Credits: Appeals (4 September 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many mandatory reconsiderations have taken place for each type of benefit and tax credit; and how many of those reconsiderations overturned the original decision in each of the last 24 months.

Asked by:
Rachael Maskell (Labour)

The number of Mandatory Reconsiderations that took place for each of the DWP benefits and how many of those have been overturned is included in Appendix 1

For tax credits Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) introduced the mandatory reconsideration process on 6 April 2014 in order to align with DWP in advance of the migration of tax credits customers to Universal Credit. The change was brought in to enable more disputes to be resolved as early as possible in the decision making process.

Mandatory reconsideration is a revision to the HMRC appeals process. The customer can request a mandatory reconsideration within 30 days of the date on the decision letter.

A customer can request a mandatory reconsideration if they believe:

1. the decision is wrong;
2. the award does not take into account a change of circumstance;
3. the award is reduced or has stopped;
4. they do not agree with a penalty notice;
5. they have been charged interest.

HMRC do not routinely publish timescales for mandatory reconsiderations. There are no statutory time limits for carrying out a mandatory reconsideration.

If the mandatory reconsideration is disallowed and the customer remains unhappy; they have one month from the date of the mandatory reconsideration decision to escalate their appeal directly to HM Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS).

The volume of Mandatory Reconsiderations received by month and the volume of those Mandatory Reconsiderations which resulted in the original decision being overturned for tax credits is shown in appendix 2

Answered by:
Damian Hinds (Conservative)
12 September 2017