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Is it 20m or 50m??

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7 years 11 months ago #158417 by Gareth56
Is it 20m or 50m?? was created by Gareth56
During a debate in the H of L Baroness Altman (Minister at the DWP) stated the following.

"I would like to clarify what appears to be a widespread misconception regarding the differences between the mobility assessment in PIP and the mobility assessment in DLA. Many noble Lords have spoken of a “20-metre rule”, but there is no such rule. Some people believe that we have changed the assessment of a distance a claimant is able to walk from 50 metres to 20 metres. This is not the case. The higher rate of DLA was always intended to be for claimants who were unable, or virtually unable, to walk. This is still the case in PIP, but we have gone further. Under PIP, if a claimant cannot walk up to 20 metres safely, reliably, repeatedly and in a timely manner, they are guaranteed to receive the enhanced rate of the mobility component. If a claimant cannot walk up to 50 metres safely, reliably, ​repeatedly and in a timely manner, then they are guaranteed to receive the enhanced rate of the mobility component. I can assure the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, that if a claimant is in extreme pain, they will be assessed as not reliably able to walk that distance. The reliability criteria are a key protection for claimants."

See Here starting at column 1504 and going onto 1505.

So according to Altman you are guaranteed getting the enhanced rate of PIP mobility if you can walk for than 50m safely, reliably, repeatedly and in a timely manner. Is this new or what?

Confused!!! :huh:

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7 years 11 months ago - 7 years 11 months ago #158418 by slugsta
Replied by slugsta on topic Is it 20m or 50m??
Hi Gareth,

Yes, we are aware of this. I can think of only 2 possibilities -

1) The Baroness is woefully ignorant of the system

2) The Baroness was being 'economical with the truth'

Our advice to claimants has not changed.

I will lock this so that it does turn into a discussion

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Last edit: 7 years 11 months ago by slugsta.
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7 years 11 months ago #158419 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Is it 20m or 50m??
Gareth

I actually disagree with Mrs H (sorry!), this was a very clever, carefully thought out response designed to mislead whilst staying within the law, it needs to be read carefully several times to actually understand it's meaning.

I'm not sure it comes under the heading of a double negative but it seems a reasonable analogy unless I can think of better one.

Basically she is saying that if you cannot walk more than 50m reliably on the majority of days (another double negative) then you won't score 10 points as your capabilities are worse/less than this, so the only remaining choice is to score to 12 points and therefore make an Enhanced award.

There's actually a worked example in the DWP PIP Assessment guide that explains it better.

However, her comments do border on the disingenuous, because it's quite clear that the DWP rarely if ever apply this rule, in fact feed back on the forum would suggest that "reliably" is rarely applied by Decision Makers to a claimants ability to walk.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: slugsta, sia
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