Pip assessment walking question query

@Kevsue never asked me that in any assessment,re my height end to end to measure length from my bed to bathroom. Anyway, my sister said its only 8 feet so they'd have gleaned v little from that in their favour. . They have asked how big my garden is ,do i use it etc. I don't,I can't, its in a slope, my rollator would go down it ,I've only a small flat area,for bins and a tiny century box shed. Wouldn't mind what was asked if they put what they were told and were truthful, but they change what you say to suit themselves.

Hi everyone, thought I'd give a quick update as I have just received my assessment report. Relevant background to this is,
1. it was a change of circ review that I requested due to my condition (rheumatoid arthritis) worsening and as yet, no medication has worked/helped.
My answer to the above was that I didn't know, and that as I am in pain from just standing up, the question of how many minutes I can walk before needing to rest was essentially, how long can I tolerate the pain, as I couldn't rest for a bit and carry on, the pain would not disappear after a rest, I don't understand the question how long can you tolerate pain for. and so I didn't really know how to answer that.

This is what she wrote on my report.
"Although PIP2 reports being able to move less thann20m, 20-50m has been advised because of the reported restrictions which is consistent with condition types,medication and input, variability showing they are mostly having bad days regarding their pain in their legs ,hips and lower back and functional history showing they are able to walk for a couple of minutes at a slow pace unaided. They would then need to stop and rest for 5 minutes which is not to an acceptable standardas their resting time is greater than their walking time suggests they [i]would reliably manage this distance[/i] unaided.

Had she not selected 20-50m, I would have assumed the would to be a typo as clearly she meant 'wouldn't' didn't she? 🤔
Also, if I walk for a couple of minutes at a slow pace.. how far have I walked? 🤷🏽‍♀️
I'm posting this to demonstrate the importance of recording your assessment and requesting your assessment report.

It would be a welcome surprise if the DM picks up on this contradiction and applies descriptor e, but experience means I'm leaning more towards an MR and an appeal ...

Hi, sorry for late reply, I missed your post! I get enhanced dl and standard mobility. I've just posted her response to this as I requested my assessment report. My adhd and autism was also totally discounted, but like you got enough points for mobility so didn't bother challenging the work of fiction regarding those conditions. Pick your battles as they say.
I shout about this site from the roof tops to anyone with ears it really is invaluable!

Hi Astee,

Using the calculations I posted earlier, they would assume that if you walked 2 minutes at a slow pace (40m/min), you would have been able to walk 80 metres. This would have put you in descriptor 12B (50-200m).

However, because you have said you can only do this with 5 minute rest stop, this means you cannot satisfy descriptor 12B to an acceptable standard/in a timely manner. The assessor has therefore opted for the next descriptor up 12C (20-50m; unaided).

In my opinion, this is a clumsy way of going about justifying her choice and could leave it wide open to challenge.

She has provided justification for why you do not satisfy 12B, but she should have probed further to establish exactly what distance you could walk reliably (in a timely manner, to an acceptable standard, and repeatedly) without the need for such a long break.

Rather, her only justification for 12C, other than that you don't satisfy 12B, is that your restrictions are consistent with what she thinks a typical person with your condition should be able to walk, as well as relying on your level of medication and specialist input.

I would argue this is wide open for challenging. She cannot simply make assumptions about your individual situation on the basis of an "average" of what others with your condition might be able to manage. There is very little factual basis on which to make such an assumption.

As for medication and input, section 1.6.35 of Part 1 of the PIP Assessment guide makes it clear to assessors that they can't simply rely on medication since levels of pain analgesia are not always an indicator of the level of pain.

There is case law with respect to "pushing through the pain" which might be helpful to your case.

I think my grounds to challenging it would be:

1) the assessor has made assumptions based on condition, medication and input which have no factual basis.
2) the assessor asked how long you could walk at a certain pace WITHOUT explaining what distance she believed that pace would cover. This is subjective - she might consider a slow pace to be 40m/min, whereas you might consider a slow pace to be 10m/min.
3) You had already stated in your claim form that you could only walk less than 20 metres. Whilst she had established you couldn't walk 80 metres reliably, she did not objectively establish that you COULD walk 20-50m reliably rather than 1-20m.
4) You had stated that walking any distance after standing up would cause you pain, and thus you would be "pushing through the pain". As such, ANY distance you walked would not have been completed to an acceptable standard.

I hope that helps a bit.

My assessor fidnt bother manipulating what I said, she just straight made stuff up. At least it will give me good grounds for appeal. She's made its difficult because it's the functional history she's fabricated, but then referred to me saying I could do xyz in my FH. So the case manager is going to have false evidence to base is descision on from the beginning. So glad I have what I actually said recorded.