Question re PIP "cannot undertake any journey"

Hi Faith

The Going Out activity looks at three things.

Planning a route - this is primarily a cognitive or sensory (e.g. blindness) activity. You are being asked about the problems you would have with working out how to get from one place to another, you do not need to be able to follow the route that you are planning.

Undertaking a Journey - this is to do with mental health issues such as agoraphobia and social anxiety and is concerned with you leaving the house to go somewhere, they will be interested in the things that stop you doing this. You need to show that you would suffer "overwhelming psychological distress" to meet the criteria.

Following a route - This activity about the problems you would have navigating a route. So, are there any problems; cognitive, sensory or mental health issues that would prevent you from doing this? This is different from undertaking a journey, in fact, if you cannot undertake a journey then you will not score points for following one and vice versa.

If you say your walking is restricted, you would need to be unable to reliably walk more than 50m to score sufficient points for an award just on the Moving Around activity.

Gary

Hi Faith,
All descriptors have to be done safely, repeatedly, in a reasonable time and to an acceptable standard. PIP Regulations 2013 - reg.4(2A). There is also reg 7 - which specifies that the descriptor that applies is the one that applies on over 50% of the days. Remember of course that the first descriptor in all the activities is 'can do this unaided' ie no or very minor disability. The remainder of reg 7 deals with scenarios where 2+ activities within one descriptor set apply equally. (You get the highest value.) Or aggregating where 2+ activities in the set when added together comprise the 'majority of days' but none do separately. In this scenario the more prevalent is the correct value.
So, what does this all mean in practice?
If you can show that you can't do the activity safely, repeatedly etc over the majority of days (or via aggregating under reg 7) you should score points.
If you manage to go out of the house very occasionally, either because eg you need to go to the supermarket or GP, but otherwise stay indoors because eg you are agoraphobic, have serious anxiety, or even in a recent case have a real fear of dogs then you should still be able to score points. DWP will make great play 'oh you can get to the supermarket therefore = zero points'. But they ignore the fact this is a very seldom event that still causes a lot of anxiety and panic etc.
The rules about activities is that under the 'repeatedly' bit of reg 4(2A) you need to be able to repeat the activity across the stay as many times as required. So for example, preparing a simple meal Descr.1 might be required 2 or 3 times a day. Toilet needs could be 3 times per day, but it could be 10 , or 20 if you have incontinence - communication is probably required the whole day. If you can only go out during the day and not night, this could provide points.
If there are only certain places you can go to, consider the reason why you go three and nowhere else. Consider whether these are just the 'necessary' places that you have to go to ('the grit your teeth and you there however bad you feel places') - eg supermarket/GP/hospital/petrol station. If you put up with anxiety/panic attacks etc to get essential supplies and services then the chances are that you are not doing the activity 'to an acceptable standard' again under reg 4(2A). All of the 4 criteria under reg 4(2A) have to be satisfied and are often interlinked. Finally to clarify, a 'journey' could be a slowish hobble for someone with back pain 70 m from their house to the corner shop, or could be a trip 200 mile trip down to London, or anything inbetween. Normally people think 'journey' would comprise the longer trip into the city, but the definition of PIP journey is very broad here. Also 'any journey' doesn't mean absolutely all journeys you could possibly make. It has to be the majority pattern as described above.
Alternatively, if you for the majority of days need to be accompanied, you might also score under 1f. 1e requires 'overwhelming psychological distress' , 1f can be other causes as well as OPD.
A recent case; JT v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP) 2020] UKUT 186 (AAC) considered when people avoid going out - the Judge stated that this could simply be evidence of OPD - particularly if staying in is to avoid becoming overanxious. This is the same as having pull on clothes because you can't do buttons or zips up, or a deaf person avoiding noisy places. In both the latter scenario points were achieved for dressing and communicating respectively (All from recent caselaw)
So, I hope that has given a bit more insight into descriptors in general and Mobility 1.
LL26

Hi Faith

Undertaking a Journey - this is to do with mental health issues such as agoraphobia and social anxiety and is concerned with you leaving the house to go somewhere, they will be interested in the things that stop you doing this. You need to show that you would suffer "overwhelming psychological distress" to meet the criteria.

Following a route - This activity about the problems you would have navigating a route. So are there problems; cognitive, sensory or mental health issues that would prevent you from doing this? This is different from undertaking a journey, in fact, if you cannot undertake a journey then you will not score points for following one and vice versa.

The scores are shown below:
a. Can plan and follow the route of a journey unaided. 0 points.
b. Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. 4 points.
c. Cannot plan the route of a journey. 8 points.
d. Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid. 10 points.
e. Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. 10 points.
f. Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. 12 points.

Gary