Has anyone been awarded PIP for intermittent pain & mobility issues?

[Citrusandginger]

Asking for advice re DH who has various pain & mobility issues that last for weeks / months at a time, but also has periods of being pain free.

He doesn't have a diagnosis and has variously been investigated for rheumatoid conditions, Marphans, EDS, fibromyalgia, polymyalgia. His inflammatory markers are raised but nothing definite has been agreed.

Pain is/has been in his shoulder, neck, back and is currently in his knee which is locking. On a good day, he can walk a few miles. Today, he is struggling to move around the house, get in the shower etc and certainly wouldn't be able to drive. He would need to use to crutches to walk out to the car for me to take him anywhere.

The usual pattern seems to be an acute flare up, lasting 2-3 weeks and then weeks/months of gentle exercise and gradual improvement.

I appreciate he would only get standard rate mobility (if at all), but it would cover the cost of a taxi for example to pick DD up from after school club if I am working late.

I'm absolutely clueless about the benefits side of this, but realistically, these episodes have been going on for around fifteen years and as we are both mid fifties, I need to think about the future and plan accordingly.

Can anyone offer advice please?

There are people that go to work and get it and there are people who don’t get it because they can walk 5 minutes.

You can only try. Describe your worst days only and expect to go through the appeal process.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Is it something that if he didn't get now, he might be more likely to get in future do you think?

i get PiP for the care element but not mobility... i had help from the local council to fill in my forms. I do work, but my work have put in place lots of things to assist me.

it's not about what you can do on a good day, its about what you can't do on those days.

theres a useful website that goes through each question and offers ways of writing up your answers.

it helped me that the person who did my assessment was a train Physio, so had an understanding of my condition and how it 'should' affect me day to day.

I applied years ago and the assessement was litterally someone reading from a script.. so if you apply and they say no ask for a mandatory reconsideration.

You have to score points for each descriptor (to gain enough points for either standard or enhanced rate)

The way it works now is that the issues you have, have to affect you more than half the time. So you have to word things in a way like this "approximately 5 times a week, I need help with x"

Keeping a daily diary of symptoms and pain can be a useful tool, and can be included with the claim as evidence.

(I have widespread Osteoarthritis and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and I am also Autistic, and was awarded enhanced rate for both elements. I also had quite a lot of evidence)

You can only try. It's worth looking at some of the PIP assistance Facebook sites for help. I know a few people who have done that.

To add: A claim will be rejected if you just describe 'a bad day' which is how a lot of people used to word things. Again, it has to be for more than half the time.

Also make sure your assessment is recorded.

It depends.

I was knocked back when I first applied. My health deteriorated badly quite quickly, though, which is why I get it now. (I put in a change of circumstances)

So you can put in a change of circumstances / new claim, and it would be looked at again. It's not a case of apply once and then never allowed again. They allow for changes in circumstances, new evidence or new diagnoses.

There are specific things (descriptors) that you need to not be able to do in order to get PIP.

It's quite a complicated process and it's worth looking into.

For each descriptor you get points and you need to get so many points to be awarded it.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf

Thank you all of you for this good advice. I understand the point about what you can't do on a good day, and truthfully, on a very good day there isn't much he can't do. The problem is that those good days are becoming fewer.

I will suggest keeping a diary, and will look at the wording to use. It sounds like a long drawn out process anyway.

I have EDS and I get standard daily living, no mobility (despite me having a blue badge I applied for on my own).

It's worth trying, but they will most likely refuse (they did to me) but appeal to tribunal and it will most likely be overturned.

I told them that when my medication is working I appear perfectly normal but when it is either wearing off or kicking in then I can hardly walk. The % being on and off being 50/50 and I was still awarded for mobility. If someone doesn’t give the assessor the whole picture they have to fill in the gaps. We need to tell them everything.

Before he applies make sure you've got evidence.
So apply for a blue badge, make sure he's had a recent review by drs, request a home physio and OT assessment for aids and adaptions.
I was asked if I could walk 5 paving stone distance in one go I said on a good day I could (a good day is probably twice a week). They said that I could therefore mobilise and went from high rate mobility to low rate. Even though my mobility was worse both in risk of falls and reduced amounts of time I can mobilise but having limited evidence means I'd struggle to fight it. Limited evidence mainly because waiting lists are too long or that I'm rejected from a service for being too ill and therefore not cost effective.

That's shocking. I'm just looking outside now and we have small, but relatively standard paving stones so that's only about 2.5 metres! They should be clear and ask can you walk x metres. I replied to "not without pain" to everything they asked me. (After being stitched up first time round)

The system is disgusting.