PIP - Preparing Food

With regard to the Preparing Food activity because of her physical and mental health problems my wife has not prepared and/or cooked a meal for herself since the mid nineties. Do I treat this as a hypothetical question?
Any help much appreciated.

Pensioner01 wrote: With regard to the Preparing Food activity because of her physical and mental health problems my wife has not prepared and/or cooked a meal for herself since the mid nineties. Do I treat this as a hypothetical question?
Any help much appreciated.

Hi P01,

Welcome to Benefits and Work

As with all The PIP Activities, you cannot just make a statement such as :

" because of her physical and mental health problems my wife has not prepared and/or cooked a meal for herself since the mid nineties."

That may be a reasonable "opening statement" but you must then explain "why" she cannot do so currently !!

You would have to pick the Descriptor (a, b, c, d, etc, etc) from each Activity , (1, 2, 3, 4, etc, etc) that you feel applies to your wife, then explain in detail how and why she cannot carry out that Activity, with respect to the appropriate Descriptor.

Then cross-reference the reasons why she cannot carry out the Activity with the limitations/disabilities that she suffers as a result of her medical conditions.

Preparing Food will look at her ability to prepare a cooked, one course meal for one person. She would score points depending on what problems she has with using a normal cooker, using a microwave and with things like peeling and chopping vegetables and opening tins.

How to best approach "Question 3 Preparing Food" and to describe how her limitations affect her in carrying out this Activity is covered from the top of Page 24 of our : PIP Claims Guide. (2nd Link on page) You should of course read through all of the Guide thoroughly.

She could also take our : PIP Self Test which should help in identifying which Activities she may score points under and her potential entitlement to PIP Awards.

I am afraid that you will have to repeat the same detailed process with all the applicable PIP Activities which may involve much repetition

Don't assume that The PIP Assessor will simply accept that your wife's limitations will score her the requisite number of points for a PIP Award without you explaining how and why she does fully, in detail.

Once you have read though our guidance, please re-post here if you have further queries.

bro58