LCWRA descriptor - Activity 13

Hi AnxiousAnonymous,
I will try and explain!
All the Limited Capability for Work descriptors are designed in some way to test what might be required of someone in order to be able to work. For instance - mobility - you need to be able to get to work, and move around the building eg to get to the canteen, next room, or more importantly the toilet.
Descriptor 13 is about whether you can perform tasks effectively. There is a bit of a link here with descriptor 11 which deals with the ability to learn tasks. D13 starts from the position that you already know how to do something but considers whether you can initiate and more importantly complete without help.
These sorts of tasks are not going to be the routine everyday tasks such as shaving or brushing your teeth.
(If you can do these, all that means is it's been drummed into you over the years.)
So it's not about whether you can physically get dressed, can you choose the right clothes to wear - eg coat and boots for a winter's day? Can you prioritise whether you continue to chop an onion, when the saucepan on the stove is boiling over? Can you wash your dirty clothes in the machine, and hang them out to dry, rather than leave them to fester wet in the washing machine? Can you use the iron, but do you turn it off afterwards? Perhaps you have OCD problems, in which case do you spend such a long time thinking and rethinking about how or why something should get done, that you never bother to start the task, or take so long pontificating that the task either never gets finished or takes a really long time?
These are the sorts of things to be considered here. It's about whether you can be set a task by an employer who will be confident that for the majority of time he will return after an appropriate time to find the task completed. An employer is not going to be happy if his fully trained employee can't finish tasks, especially very simple ones. Worse still, if the employee can't even start them properly!
Think also about avoidance. If you avoid doing various tasks (eg because you ask a friend to help!) this might indicate a problem, so think about why the friend needs to help.
If you can not complete the descriptor activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly as often as required, and within a reasonable time you will fail the descriptor task.
And yes finally, this is in in the mental health section, so the primary reason for not achieving the descriptor activity must be due to mental health problems. Anxiety, depression are obvious causes, I have also mentioned OCD, brain injury could also apply. D13 specifically mentions 'due to impaired mental function' this includes autism and and could also refer to learning difficulties.
As with similar descriptors, if you have the relevant health problem and cannot perform this descriptor activity, points are awarded according whether you can not, cannot for the majority of time or frequently cannot.
I hope this helps.
LL26

Hi AnxiousAnonymous,
I am not aware of writing on forums or texting comprising this task. The examples I provided are derived from various cases. If you use the sort of examples I have suggested these are obvious and non-controversial.
I'm not entirely sure what personal sequential actions would comprise gaming or writing on forums. I think there is a great danger that if you proudly exclaim on your ESA/UC form that you can't complete or start a task whilst on a forum or you fail to prioritise which weapon to pick up when on Xbox, DWP might think hmmm shouldn't be playing Xbox, or posting online should be at work!
LL26