Pip review decision appeal

Hi Pixiegirl

If you put in for a Mandatory Reconsideration, it will not impact your current award. You will continue to be paid standard for both parts until the result of the MR.

Remember that PIP and ESA are different benefits, so the fact that you have been placed in the support group does not mean that you would automatically be awarded enhanced PIP, as they are looking at different things.

Driving so often causes problems with PIP applications, and it is frustrating for people. LL26 wrote an interesting article for someone else about driving benefitsandwork.co.uk/kunena/10-dla-esa-...8543-pip-and-driving. I don't know whether there's anything in there that you can use for your response.

The DWP are not supposed to penalise people because they drive, and they are supposed to look at the whole picture - make sure that you have checked the information in the guide to PIP claims and reviews benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/pip - page 82 and what the Tribunal has said. That information should help you form your argument.

If you decide to put in for your MR and have any further questions, come back and ask, and we'll try and help.

BIS

Hi Pixiegirl,
You may well find some help in the ' PIP & driving' article that Gary kindly pinned up for me. Aside from the physical aspects of driving, remember that all descriptors refer to what happens for the 'majority of days', so even if you do drive on a few days, this should not matter as it will not reflect the majority pattern.
The ability to drive is not a test for PIP. There is nothing in the rules that gives points for being able to drive or indeed for not being able to drive! Driving reflects the ability to go out and about on a journey. (Although as we all know DWP use the ability to drive to indicate physical and cognitive ability to prove you can do other activities.)
Focussing solely on going on 'journeys', why do you use the car? Can you use public transport - if not, why not? Do you have someone with you - why? Why can you only use the car once a week? Is this because driving is tiring physically, is it because you get anxious or overwhelmed when going on a journey and it is all you can manage? Maybe the car is a safe space?
Try to explain the use of the car to fit in with the 2 mobility descriptors. If your car is the only way you can get around, due to mental and/or physical health if you can explain the use this may be useful to show you should be awarded points under one or both mobility sections. Remember that journeys under descriptor 1 need to be considered holistically. A PIP 'journey' can be a short stroll to the nearby post box or a road/train trip to the other end of the country to visit relatives etc. Every journey, aside from the very short walking sort, will be hybrid journeys - it will involve a few steps to a vehicle, a drive/ride somewhere then a few steps at the other end. The 'few steps' could literally be one or two steps to take you from the bus/car etc and into the adjacent building, or to the front door of your house, or it might be a longer walk from a car park into the shops, and of course back again. You will need to consider how you perform/manage all aspects of the journey. If you can demonstrate difficulties that fit within one of the descriptors it only has to be for 'the majority of days', if on any day you can't do a journey (or actual walking per descriptor 2, or any daily living descriptor) safely, AND in a reasonable time, AND to an acceptable standard, AND repeatedly across the whole day as many times as reasonably required, then this will be a day to count towards the majority pattern.

Worsening health doesn't always mean that you can gain extra points on PIP. Walking ability is a very obvious example. Descriptor 2b gives points if you can only walk 50 -200m. If originally your ability was say 190m your ability could deteriorate to 60m, which would be considerably less than before, but unfortunately you would still fall within the same points level. Similarly if you can't bend very well and need help to put on your lower body clothing, but now your hands have become more arthritic and you can bend less, your health is worse, but again it is still likely that you will retain the same 2 points under descriptor 6 - dressing. The examples given show a deterioration, but sadly won't allow more points. To gain more points you would need to show that you can not perform a higher rated activity in the same descriptor, or a totally new descriptor now applies. Remember the majority rule and the 4 criteria which have to be met. I think it is important to have in mind what descriptor could apply, so what you are aiming at. Be realistic. Refer your own medical reports, if you have these. Politely criticise the assessment report. (The assessor will have 'misunderstood' or 'ignored' certain items - I very much doubt there will be evidence he actually lied, and there is no point trying to suggest he did.)
Remember also if two or more activities in one descriptor set apply, your score should be the highest value when each apply equally, or the most prevalent value if unequal. The members guides provide a lot of great information if you wish to explore any of these general concepts or to consider individual descriptor tests.
It is always frustrating when you feel that DWP has not taken into account the full extent of all your health issues. If you are confident that you should now receive extra points then it is certainly worthwhile making an MR request to get the extra points and therefore hopefully extra level of PIP payment.
I hope this helps.
Good luck!

LL26

Hi Pixiegirl,
If you do MR mention all the things you have said in your post above. Emphasise your walking speed. If you Google average walking speeds there are a lot of scientific papers on this. I'm sure I remember the average pace around 1.3m/s was the effective rate. (The reason why walking speed is important is that pedestrian crossings need to accommodate slow walkers otherwise they are danger of missing the lights and being knocked over.)
Pace changes with age too. However at 0.5m/s you appear to be more twice a slow so can't do 'reasonable time'. It isn't wrong to quote prooer scientific papers ( never use Wikipedia!) Make sure you cite the correct reference. You can just copy the link.
Bathing is more difficult than getting into a car. You are seated in a car and there is less edge to get over, plus you can use the door for support. A bath is a shiny curved surface with a deep edge in a slippery wet environment!!!!
It is definitely not the same.
Give detailed explanations how you can or can't do the activities, the help required and what can or does go wrong without the help.
Good luck.
LL26