MR rejected, appear to have not even read

Thank you Gordon, I think I am starting to see what you guys are saying, although I am confused because the guidance said so much more about reliability etc. But I can see what you mean, that the DWP are going to focus on the fact that I have said I do it.

So, with that in mind here are my points, I appreciate them being picked apart so I can better prepare for tribunal.

I pick up the children 3 times a week at most, my husband has an arrangement so that he can be late for work 5 days a week to drop them off at school, and also pick them up 2x a week minimum because for me to do this on consecutive days is too much. He will often have to use his lunch hour to pick up the kids on days where I just cannot even push through it.

When I do have to pick them up I arrive at the school 20 minutes before the bell so that I get a parking space right next to the gate. The distance is 19m when measured on google maps if that makes a difference at all. It is now 7m because I am able to use my blue badge since I got my standard rate mobility PIP. I then walk to the gate all the while breathless, dizzy, chest pain with a loss of peripheral vision and exhausted, with pre-fainting symptoms. My hip also partially slips from it's socket every step I take which is damaging and painful. I rest on the step by the gate for 5-10 minutes until the bell goes. I then walk back, again, dizzy, breathless etc to the car. I then rest for 5 minutes before driving home. I walk the 6 or so metres to the couch, again, dizzy breathless etc and remain there for a few hours to recover from the exhaustion.

Reliably - I cannot repeat 20m as often as needed. Pushing myself to walk the 20m there and back (with a rest in between) while feeling so awful requires me to avoid doing any activity before the school pick up, as well as impacting the rest of my day and the day after. As far as I am aware, the criteria for repeatedly is as follows -

“repeatedly” means as often as the activity being assessed is reasonably required to be completed;

So not just being able to do it again, as I do to get back to the car, but being able to do it as often as reasonable required in a day. Not being able to walk in my house to the kitchen, or up the stairs for hours afterwards for exhaustion, and being unable to get up at all until about 12pm, I think would (should!) count as things I am reasonably required to do in a day, and cannot.

Here are case laws I found and included in my mandatory reconsideration letter with regards to being unable to walk unil about 12pm each day. I will bring up at the tribunal -

[2015] UKUT 626 (AAC) ruled that if a descriptor applies for only part of the day, it applies for the whole day. “For a descriptor to apply on a given day, the inability to perform the task or function must be more than trifling and had to have some tangible impact upon a claimant’s daily activity and functioning, but not more than that (paragraphs 32)”.

The PIP assessment guide part 2: the assessment criteria also states –2.1.8 A scoring descriptor can apply to claimants in an activity where their impairment(s) affects their ability to complete an activity, at some stage of the day, on more than 50 per cent of days in the 12 month period.


To an acceptable standard - I am dizzy, breathless, have chest pain, peripheral vision loss, my heart rate is going 120+bpm while I am standing, my blood pressure becomes unstable and drops to a point of nearly fainting (I have medical evidence of this from my tilt table test with blood pressure and heart rate monitors attached). This is the criteria and definition of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia syndrome. This all starts 1-2 seconds of standing. My hip is painful with every step as is slips from it's proper position with each step. I have included in my MR letter this case law which states that just because someone is able to do it (and repeat it), if they do it with pain or symptoms such as breathlessness, it should not be considered acceptable - administrativeappeals.decisions.tribunal...px/view.aspx?id=4916

Safely - my hip subluxes (partially dislocates) when I bear weight on it which is painful and aggravates my existing hip problems, causing more damage to the tendons and ligaments. I may be able to get a letter from the physio stating that this is damaging to me and confirming that she has advised I do not bear weight on it and stick to reclined physio exercises.

Ok, so that's enough of my rambling. I guess my big question is, why is the fact that while I am walking the 20 (well, 19m) to the school, I am dizzy and breathless etc the whole time not good enough? It states it on the PIP forms themselves, I have medical proof of it (being diagnosed with POTS)? I feel like for all the nitpicking (that the DWP are likely to do) about whether I *can* walk the 20m, really the issue here is that I cannot do it without feeling severely unwell the entire time. Is there a way I can more clearly state this? My legs work (besides my hip) and therefore I can move myself from A to B, but the entire time my autonomic nervous system is freaking out, my heartrate is bouncing up and down between 120 and 180bpm and I experience all the symptoms you would medically expect from this.

Thanks for all your help!

Yes thank you Gordon, I will include my difficulties in getting around the house. I struggle to get downstairs at all before 12pm, the bathroom is about 3m from my bed and I struggle with that too. Downstairs I use the wheelchair or rollator as much as possible (my house is not accessible) but I barely do anything but sit on the couch and get people to bring me things. I will make a note if these.

Thank you for the reassurance about the tribunal panel, I really hope they take into account my symptoms!

Gordon, just a quickie...

I note that you say the distance to your loo is 7.5 metres and that you go on to say that the total distance is 15 metres. You make it sound as though the total 15 metres is one walk.

I would have thought that, given that you will break the walk and spend some minutes in the loo, this should count as 2 walks of 7.5 metres each and not 1 walk of 15 metres.

At 15 metres total, of course, it is neither here nor there. But if the distance to the loo was, say 12.5 metres, then does this count as being able to walk 25 metres? I would say this is fairly important as looking at it one way qualifies for full mobility and looking at it the other way does not.

Ian

Gordon

I respectfully disagree, Gordon. I believe everyone makes a trip to the toilet in order to stay there. The shortest stay I can manage is about 2 minutes and the longest stay is probably up to 10 minutes.

In either case, I would suggest that the total time taken to cover, in your case, a distance of 15 metres, would be more than twice as long as a normally fit person.

How long a stay would qualify as a single journey and how long a wait would qualify as 2 journeys? I believe this is important for NAC since she may want to use this information during her tribunal hearing if the question of collecting her children from school crops up.

Ian