Claiming PIP

[TheHound86]

I am just in the process of filling in the form to try and claim PIP. I’m struggling a bit with it though. For the mobility part I am unsure how to answer. I can walk and do walk as I have no choice but I am usually very slow, I have a lot of pain and I have to use a walking stick. Does this mean that because I can walk more than 200m I won’t qualify for the mobility part of PIP even though my mobility is affected by my condition?

No it doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t qualify, but you must answer it all honestly. They assess based on the bigger picture of all needs so just answer truthfully x

Fill it out as if it's you on your very worst day. Are you even able to make it out of the bed and successfully make it around the house on those days? If not, write that. Write 'on my worst day' too.

Can you walk with a stick but need to stop and take various breaks within 200m depending on the severity of your pain? If so, write it down.

There are many days where I can make it downstairs to the sofa but no further. Some days I can walk fairly well. Others I am in severe pain and walking almost makes me feel a bit breathless and I have to stop a fair bit. On those days my knee also gives way under me and if I didn’t have my stick I would fall over.

Can you do it as often as needed? Including him uphill?

I can only go out once a day. I walk the kids to school and then come home but after that I usually can’t go out again. I can walk uphill but not for long and with increased pain. If I’m going uphill I have to stop more.

Thats what you need to explain. On a good day you can walk 200m very slowly, on a bad day you can't. You have bad days roughly X often. The pain is severe enough you can only go out once a day even on a good day. PIP would enable you to afford taxi or whatever to get kids to school. Pain severe enough you've missed events such as X,Y,Z (weddings, graduations, family parties, parents evenings) because you can't leave house again. You need to spell out what its like on good days, bad days, if it's likely to continue same or get worse if degenerative. How it affects your life and what you can do. Think about how it applies to other areas of life for other sections of form as well. You need places to rest so don't take public transport because you can't guarantee somewhere to rest, what if bus is late etc. That comes under planning and making journeys also. Managing money - does your disability mean you can't go into branch to discuss with advisors making it difficult to manage money?

The way PIP works is basically points scoring - getting lots of small points in many areas can get you PIP as much as big points in 1/2 places so you need to emphasise how you're affected in all areas even if repeating yourself.

@NamingConundrum This is really helpful thank you. I didn’t think of linking different bits of the form together but I guess the assessors will only consider it section by section when awarding points.

It’s a very confusing form. The dressing and undressing part for example. I can dress and undress myself but I wear stretchy clothes that I can get on myself. I don’t wear things that need to be buttoned up because I can’t do the buttons very often. If I had to wear clothes that are not made of a stretchy fabric and just pull on and off I wouldn’t be able to dress myself every day.

What you've said there about dressing suggests you'd get two points for dressing because that kind of simple, stretchy clothing is considered to be an aid.

Re walking, if it takes you more than twice as long as someone without your disability to do an activity then you're considered to be unable to do it. So if you can walk 200m, but can only do it very slowly then you're considered to be unable to walk it. Make sure you specify on the form how long it does take you to walk different distances

I will have to time myself and see how long it takes me to walk as I’m not sure exactly. I just know it can be very slow.

On a pip form a question of "are you able to" doesn't quite mean that. If you are technically able to but it wipes you out for hours and is really difficult compared to how a non-disabled person would experience the task then the answer is "no I can't"

A key phrase for pip is Reliably, repeatedly and safely.
So you may be able to do things but not again, or if it causes pain, fatigue and you need to rest
So if you need to take rests every 20m for example that counts
If one journey wipes you out for a day or so, that counts too
For the descriptors, you should be able to do this 50pc of the time
I wouldn't actually say, that taking into account all of the above that you can walk 200m( in the kindest way of course)
Also if you lose balance, you need extra time to prevent falling
Basically you need to think as if the assessor is stupid and doesn't understand the implications of your difficulties.
Repeat each descriptor as often as needed
Even if you sit on the bed to dress this counts as an aid
Stretchy clothing counts as an adaption
I have Cerebral Palsy and have used all of these
Think about making yourself a light meal
Pain causing loss of appetite, standing in the kitchen
Also side effects of any medication( dizziness affecting safety for example)
If possible ask CAB to complete the form with you)
Good luck