Mandatory appeal

hi jill thanks for reply the strange thing is my wife was awarded top persional rate scoring 12 points but 0 for mobility. I sent a picture of our small garden and evidence of her medication best wishes

yeah that may be ok, my assessor said i culd easily bend to stroke my cat from my sofa but then said i could easily sit and stand from my LOW sofa. so i asked them why would i need to bend to stroke my cat from my sofa if it's low and sent in a picture of my stroking my cat not having to bend. so contridictory. 

anyway photo evidence is good.

Good luck. 

hi mike I wrote the girl assessor knew better than specialist surgeons and doctors health workers etc about my wife's disability. its made her depressed

That's a good idea I got my wife's prescription list printed off by the GP and sent that when sent the for in also when you get repeat prescriptions you always get it attached I sent that in to .

Sorry meant to say when I sent form in when applying I have also got more that come attached to the prescription I will show when the assessor comes

They said she walk to top of garden and back 60 metres but our garden is about 15 yards which is 5 meteres also she could walk 200 metres-my wife has servere caudisation which makes any walking painful thanks for reply

It is quite common for assessors to quote 60 metres. They used to quote more than 50 metres when being assessed for DLA.

The extra 10 metres is nothing more than a regular ploy to ensure that you are not awarded the 'up to 50 metres' rate of PIP.

As I have said it is their opinion - on appeal you will have to prove that their opinion is wrong and exaggerated.

Looking at it another way, under DLA everyone knew that a distance of up to 50 metres would give you High Mobility.- so claimants tended to say that 50 metres was their limit.

Yet after PIP came in and the 20 metre rule came in to get enhanced mobility those that had previously claimed that is was 50 metres must have suffered a considerable deterioration in mobility as they are now claiming that the maximum is 20 metres that they can walk. I suppose that if the government reduced it further to say 5 metres to get enhanced people would be arguing that 5 is the maximum that they can now walk.

I have no idea how you can even measure the distance - I have awful difficulties in getting around yet if someone asked me what was the distance I could manage I would not have a clue as I don't go around with a tape measure everytime I go out. 

 

I would say most people know how far they can walk etc as in my wife's case she gets pain when standing within seconds but then again she also gets pain sitting so can't go on long journeys with alot of pain killers first so to say you don't know how far you can manage hmmmm maybe that's why you never get your allowance easy and always fight for it ..looking at most of your posts

I'll take that onboard. The next time I see someone struggling to walk with someone at their side with a tape measure, I'll know that they must be looking to claim PIP!

Seriously I couldn't tell you how far it is from the back door to the car on the drive, nor how far it is from the front door to the end of the drive. I couldn't even tell you how long my car is or how long my back garden is.

I can estimate it, but I could be way out with the true measurement.

Someone once told me that a good sride for a man is about 1 metre. That's OK if you can walk like that - pity those like myself that do a shuffle, to start with that progresses to a short step then into a waddle much akin a penguin.

I honestly cannot believe that someone who is suffering such difficulties when walking is going to actually measure from when they set off to when they had to stop due to severe pain. Likewise who actually has a stop watch to measure how many seconds elapse before pain sets in?

 

That reminds me that at one DLA face to face I was asked how far could I walk. My answer was - I have no idea!

In the report it suggested that I could not walk more than 50 metres. How the assessor came to that conclusion I don't know. Maybe the distance from the waiting room to the chair in the assessing room had been carefully measured at less that 50 metres?

It's very easy if it's virtually instant pain and severe difficulty walking.  It's far harder when you can walk a short distance.  Most of the time you don't need to consider the actual distance, you just know you can't manage it.  

At the moment I know I can't get from my door to the bottom of the path without stopping.  Does it matter to me what that distance is?  At other times I can walk to my local supermarket providing I take it slowly.  I have measured both of these distances recently and the time it takes me, which I also would struggle to estimate because again it's not normally important to me so I've never noticed.

I think most people would be the same in the sense that they know that they can walk to a certain point or can complete a certain trip.  Until they measure that distance they would probably struggle to state the distance accurately in metres.

They are going to have fun with me then because I have a balance issue. I can walk about 10 metres (with walker) as though I have had a few too many then I start to tire considerably and have to stop momentarily to try and balance myself before continuing. This is an extremely exhausting way of getting from A-B and leaves me quite breathless (possibly as I have COPD too). This was initially and intermittent issue since onset of balance problem in July 15 but appears to be a permanent problem for me now as I have loss the balance in my left ear. I am fine sitting down and can drive but getting to and from my car is struggle enough. My life (like many others on here) has been turned upside down and inside out, since this problem became permanent, through no fault of my own but I suspect I will be reduced PIP too. I naturally appeal but I struggle with my normal day to day activities anything over this is absolutely knackering. We do not need treating like second rate citizens to add to our problems.

Hiya ..remember 10 meters is roughly 33 feet in old imperial!!!

They will mark you down for anything over 5 meters 18ft!

Les do you not have a carer ? You seem to be fighting these scum bags alone

Scally the distances are quite specific <50m for standard and <20m for enhanced.

However, that is not the end of the test. For example if it takes you more than twice the normal time to cover say 20m then under the legislation you are deemed as NOT being able to cover the distance.

Also (with reference to dawn) if you can't cover the distance safely (she has balance issues which presumably lead to falls) then again do are deemed to not be able to cover the distance.

Thirdly there is the 'repeatedly' test which means you may be able to cover the distance but due to the effort you would-not be able to 'repeat' the return journey without taking a significant rest.

Of course this is subject to having a medical condition whose affect is enough to satisfy the descriptors.

Thanks for the info. I can only be honest with them and tell them what I can't do. I am only applying for PIP because a friend (who is receiving it but can tasks herself off on long journeys on her own????) Said I should be entitled. If you don't asdk you never know do you? I feel bad for ALL the genuine people trying to claim foir herlp that are bring refused. I can get to my car in our communal car park with a struggle (have a seat on my walker to rest) but tasked a while. I vary from hour to hour and day to day.

I can only get to my car with my walker. Tried it for the first time Friday (after 2 months of not driving) ad I felt clearer headed for once. I am fine when sitting down so thought OK let's see what I can do. Tried to go to shop with daughter (5 mins drive away) was chuffed I made it. Went into shop walked for about 5 minutes in shop - with Walker -had to sit down as my balance was all the place - seems I am quite limited in moving around these days I can only tell them how it is and see what they make of it.

.

A carer? Yes my wife cares and helps me. But because they removed my DLA award she lost the the right to claim Carers Allowance.

My wife, God bless her little cotton socks, has no idea how the Benefit system works so from that point of view she aint much help.

As for outside help, nope, nothing. Social Services did an assessment on us both back in 2011 brought in by our GP. We were supplied with all sorts of equipment, perching stool, bed riser, bath lift, etc. Since then they will only deal with the most severe of cases where life is actually at risk.

CAB & AgeUK are not up to it to be honest. They offer a service but other than a chat they don't do very much.

So no is the answer - I've always fought the buggers on my own hence why it has got to a point now that I have had to give up.

Absolutely correct Anthony.

However the problem arises when the assessor gives an opinion that based on the 'walk' from the waiting room to the assessment room the claimant should be able to walk at least 200 metres.

Proving that you cannot walk more than 20 metres at more than half the normal speed or that you are so in pain that you need a rest before attempting it again is very problematic even with a GP's confirmation of what the condition is that would/may cause that to be the case.

It all comes down to the old argument - who should the DWP believe - the assessor who says that they saw the claimant walk or the claimant? Then we come down again to estimating distances. Sitting here at the moment and looking out of my study window I have guessed that the distance to the end of the drive is about 50ft say 17 metres. I know how far I can walk without having to stop because of pain which is to the end of the drive.

I'm going to measure the distance now and see what it actually is.

 

My wife thinks that I have lost the plot!

I have just counted 30 paving stones which are 75cm long. That gives a true distance of 22 1/2 metres!

That makes it that I have under estimated the distance I can walk before I have to stop and recover by 5 1/2 metres.

If I was having to argue that my estimate was right for PIP by right I should be entitled to the enhanced rate. But the truth is legally that it should only be the standard rate.

Who should they believe? - my obsessive attitude that I am always right 

or the honest truth after measuring it?

This whole idea of fixed distances is ridiculous - that is unless you walk round with a tape measure and measure every time you go out.