Can anyone help me with this part of my PIP form please?

[PIPpityDoodah]

I've had a decision back but don't feel like this particular section is fair.

Without getting too deep I suffer from multiple MH issues Inc agoraphobia and OCD and do not leave the house alone, ever. My ability to go anywhere is solely dependent on someone being able to take me. Even to the corner shop

I believe that I should have gotten 'F' Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person'
But have been awarded E.

I am considering a mandatory reconsideration to try and get descriptor F as that would get me high mobility.

The assessor literally says twice in the recommendations that I don't leave the house alone.

Any familiar journey I take, picking up poorly kids from school, going to a Dr's Appointment or the bank is navigated with another adult who drives me there.

Can anyone explain what the 'Reported restrictions not supported' part means and how I can word the Mandatory reconsideration in saying I think I should get 'F' as if I don't have anyone to come with me I don't go anywhere.

If you’re going to do a Mandatory, make sure you send plenty of medical evidence to back up what you are saying. If you don’t send any new evidence, they won’t change their decision.

First thing to do is ask for a copy of the assessment report. You can do this online via the DWP, subject access request. The report is quite an eye opener as to how they have come to their decision and it might help you respond. Good luck!

You don’t Gp have to drive. You can use a blue badge as a passenger in any car.It might be very useful for you.

To me (experience of PIP claims including mobility award for mental health reasons for 2 of my DC) it seems that the DWP decision maker has decided ‘e’ applies as for the majority of days you cannot leave the house due to overwhelming psychological distress. I don’t think that’s correct as the criteria wording is ‘never leave’ and you are able to leave the house sometimes.

As you say the decision maker has acknowledged that you can’t leave the house alone - so surely ‘e’ can’t apply - it’s not true that you never leave the house.

Do challenge with mandatory reconsideration to start with.

(I had similar craziness in an ESA application for my DS. The decision was that he did not have limited capability for work. The reasoning stated that he although he currently had LCW he should be able to work in the future. I pointed out that meant he did have LCW…. The DWP then acknowledged he did have LCW…)

Sorry the wording for ‘e’ is ‘cannot undertake any journey’ rather than leave the house but my point still applies.

Google maps, physical map, compass I would think plus support animal like a dog, cane etc

The "never" applies to the majority of days though. So on the majority of days the op can never leave the house. Not the op can never leave the house 365 days a year.

F would be awarded if you demonstrated you would go out everyday and experience symptoms which amount to overwhelming emotional distress. Most people that exhibit these symptom do not go out the majority of days - therefore are awarded E

I stand corrected. I subscribe to the Benefit and Works website and their PIP guide doesn’t make that clear. It would be clearer if the criteria stated ‘on the majority of days the claimant cannot undertake any journey due to OPD’

OP - does the DWP have evidence that on the majority of days you can’t undertake a journey?

It's not clear at all! I only know this because my brother is a decision maker for pip claims. Obviously he can't discuss individual claims, but he does share with me how the descriptors are applied. I am disabled myself so I ask him a lot of questions.

I mean how do you prove that?

Could I get the person who takes me everywhere to write a steer stating so?

Do you see any medical professionals? A psychiatrist or have a mental health nurse or support worker? They would be the best people to ask for evidence.

I think that given your mental health conditions/history the DWP have drawn the conclusion that you cannot undertake a journey on the majority of days.

So I agree you need evidence that shows for the majority of days you are accompanied on a journey. I think the DWP are meant to accept evidence from ‘someone who knows you’ like a friend/informal carer.

I’m not sure where this leaves my DD who’s a teen. She gets higher rate mobility under ‘f’. She is always accompanied when she goes out. However the majority of days she doesn’t go out. In her case though it’s ASD rather than OPD, she much prefers to be at home and isn’t motivated to go out.

I have ADHD too.

What's OPD?

So it is possible to get F based on MH issues not physical ones?

The people I know who have been awarded higher rate mobility that have not been due to a physical impairment have learning difficulties meaning they do t have the mental capacity to travel alone.

I think I'll just leave it.

I'm grateful for what I do get. Don't want to risk it. Thanks.

The mobility descriptors are an absolute mess. Basically, the government wrote them to try to ensure no one could get enhanced rate mobility for mental health, and intended that only b and e should apply to people with mental health conditions. Then the courts said this wasn't legitimate, so now all the descriptors are open to people with mental health conditions. This has made b more or less irrelevant (because it's very rare for someone to need prompting to go out but then be fine once actually out). E is still applicable to some people, if they really don't go out at all. It seems like the op does go out if accompanied, so probably does have a reasonable argument to make that they should have been awarded f instead.

There's no magic form of words that will convince DWP to award f instead of e - just make the case that the majority of the time you can go out if accompanied, but that you cannot undertake even familiar journeys alone.

If you want to provide letters from the people who accompany you as evidence, make sure they are signed and dated and give the person's address.

@PIPpityDoodah You have given written evidence on your PIP form. That evidence, from the report above, indicates that you can only go out once per week, with help from someone else. Unfortunately, the PIP assessment is about what happens the majority of the time, so if two descriptors could apply, then the one which applies for the majority of the time will be applied.

If one day per week you can go out with the help of someone else, but 6 days per week you can't go out at all because of the distress your agoraphobia and OCD causes, then they will give the points for descriptor E, because that is the descriptor that best fits your situation for the majority of the time.

The difficulty is that either through her PIP form or the interview, @PIPpityDoodah has told the assessor that she can't go out more than once per week (or even more than 3 times per week...it wouldn't much matter). Furthermore, the difficulties that have been described as the limiting factor in going out are relating to Overwhelming Psychological Distress (OPD). It's very hard for her to now argue that actually, she can go out on most days if accompanied, unless she's saying that the evidence given on the form was untrue/inaccurate.

But that's not what she asked.

That was how often I can choose to go out, like to get toiletries or something I said, so not an essential journey but a trip out I don't need to do.

On top of that once a week I do normal things such as pick kids up from school. Doctors appointments for me and my kids, picking up medication, picking up click and collect food shops etc.

But all with someone taking me.

This is what I said to her, that once a week is something like me choosing to go but there are essential journeys.

I have it recorded

I believe she's interpreted that wrong or manipulated it to fir with lower motability because I didn't say I only go out once a week. That was in reference to how often I make unessential trips out, ontop of mundane every day things. Or a social outing where I would need to interact with people.

It doesn't matter as I've decided not to do a MR and just leave it as is because I'm scared I will lose what I have

Thankyou for all the help.

If that is the case, than that will be the basis of your Mandatory Reconsideration request. State that the decision is based on you only going out once per week, but that you stated that you go out x times per week, always accompanied.

Honestly I think that is the best decision as even discriptor e is hard to get. The chances of it changing to f are so slim if it was me ( I have pip myself) I would not risk it.
When you are due a renewal read through the descriptors and the requirements very carefully, and don't be afraid to correct the assessor if they try and put words in your mouth.