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PIP NOT AWARDED MOBILITY COMPONENT

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6 years 6 months ago #197243 by Monica
PIP NOT AWARDED MOBILITY COMPONENT was created by Monica
Hi I've received my PIP letter to say I have been awarded the standard rate for Daily Living and NO award for the mobility component. I have MS and in the last 3 months my MS has got considerably worse in that my fatigue has got worse and my walking has got a lot worse. I had an assessment at my home on the 21st August and gave the assessor a copy of a clinical report from my MS Consultant outlining the deterioration of my condition.
The PIP decision letter said I haven't been awarded the mobility component because I can plan and follow a route of a journey unaided and I can stand and then move more than 50 meters but no more than 200 meters either aided or unaided. These 2 statements are just not true and I explained how my Ms had gotten worse and I couldn't walk for any length of time without severe pain and had to stop after a few steps down to fatigue as well.
I said I couldn't go on a journey without it causing me extreme anxiety and had to have my sister with me.
Has anybody had similar experience and if so did you appeal and how did you prove your point ? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Monica.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Milo

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6 years 6 months ago #197255 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP NOT AWARDED MOBILITY COMPONENT
M

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

In case you are not aware, your real name appears to be showing in the forum, if you want to change this then follow the instructions in the following FAQ

My full name is showing, how can I stop it?


Based on your post, you have two options for scoring;

For the Going Out activity, Descriptors (b) and (e). would appear to be the only ones applicable. Your problem may stem from your using the word "anxiety", even if extreme, the Descriptor uses the phrase "overwhelming psychological distress", so anxiety may not be considered sufficient.

The Moving Around activity is all about the distance. You are not required to walk pain free but any pain that restricts the distance that you can walk should be taken into account.

Specifically for the Moving Around activity, if you are able to walk but you are in severe pain when doing so, then you can argue that your walking is not to a necessary standard and should be disregarded.

The legal test requires you to stand and then move (walk), so if you have problems getting up then you should document these as well.

If you walk slowly then it must take you at least twice the time to cover the 20m as a healthy person would, this could be down to the speed of your walking but could also be the result of having to stop.

You must be able to repeat the distance, so if you could walk it once but not then be able to walk it again within a reasonable timescale then you should be classed as unable to repeat the activity.

I'm afraid I can't tell you how to show your walking is more restricted but things you need to think about is what you can't do, for example what can you walk in your house, how far is the toilet from where you normally sit, things that will count against you are any trips that you make outside, so for example, how do you do your shopping?

You must be able to walk the distance you can, reliably and on the majority of days, both these terms are defined in the PIP Claim guide

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.

Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;

"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"

than their opinions

"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.

When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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6 years 6 months ago #197364 by Monica
Replied by Monica on topic PIP NOT AWARDED MOBILITY COMPONENT
Thanks for that Gordon. I've been to citizens advice today and they advised me to submit a mandatory reconsideration for the Daily Living component to do with managing my medication and medical condition as they didn't take into consideration that I have to use a pill box to remember to take my meds and to also phone them and ask for a review as my MS has gotten a lot worse since I initially put in my application.
I'm still waiting on a copy of the assessors report and will get back to you when I get it.

Thanks Monica.

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6 years 6 months ago #197366 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic PIP NOT AWARDED MOBILITY COMPONENT
Monica

Managing your medication will only score you one point, did you score 11 points for Daily Living? If not then I would not expect this to help!

In regard to your reporting a change. Be aware that this will result in a full reassessment of your claim, new claim form and almost certainly a face to face assessment, it will also result in a new Decision that will limit the result of anything that happens with your MR or an appeal if you go that far. It may be to your advantage to do this, but a deterioration in the claimants condition does not always mean that they will score extra points.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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6 years 6 months ago #197369 by Monica
Replied by Monica on topic PIP NOT AWARDED MOBILITY COMPONENT
Gordon

I scored 11 points for the Daily Living component so if I were to get 1 more point for the medication then that would give me 12 points for this component and hence put me on the enhanced rate.
The CAB people did warm me that a review would probably result in a full reassessment and another face to face meeting. The CAB people said I would have to go down the review route if I wanted my deterioration to be considered because at the moment they awarded me nothing for the mobility component. I now have Occupational Therapy willing to say I have major weakness in my left side which causes me to drag my left foot and causes me to trip and fall when walking. I also have an appointment with the Orthopedics to get a BOXIA ankle support to help me to stop tripping. I have also been referred to the people that assess me to see if I can get an electric chair to get me upstairs to my toilet and bedroom.
I can no longer even walk 20 meters so would probably fall into the descriptor that says " can walk more than 1M but no more that 20M " and this should get me 12 points.
The CAB also said they thought I should have been given at least 8 points for the mobility component as I had said in my application that I couldn't walk more than 20M.
It will be interesting to see what the assessor wrote in the home visit she made to me.

Monica.

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6 years 6 months ago #197398 by Monica
Replied by Monica on topic PIP NOT AWARDED MOBILITY COMPONENT
Gordon

I've received a copy of the Assessors report. The Assessor reported under
" Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition" - Deals with medication herself. Has a pill box she fills herself once per week. Can sometimes forget her medication but remembers most days. Can physically handle her medication.
Based on this she awarded me NIL points. When I phoned the DWP he informed me that I don't necessarily get a point for just having a pill box. He said I would have to show my that I have a condition that causes memory problems. Although I have a pill box I have regularly forgotten to take my pills and I have even taken a double dose, within 20 minutes of my gabapentin which caused me to think I was having a heart attack until during the night it struck me I had double the dose of Gabapentin.

I was awarded NIL points for the mobility component because she ticked " Can stand and then move more than 50 meters but no more than200 meters. Her written observation was
"Informal observations found claimant walked very slowly and stiffly with a limping gait. Looked tired. MSO found reduced power to both legs . Functional history finds claimant can only manage to walk for around 4 minutes at the most before she has to stop and rest. Has to stop frequently due to fatigue and pain in leg, Fatigue has gotten a lot worse over past 3-4 months..Condition history finds claimant suffers from fatigue and has 3-4 bad days per week, ongoing for past 4 months. FME in the form of letter from Consultant and Specialist MS nurse dated 13/07 and 31/07/17 respectively, note the issue of fatigue and weakness and big jump in EDSS. Using the calculation that a very slow pace achieves an average of 40 meters per minute, this indicates a distance of around 160 meters. This indictates that it is likely claimant can move more than 50 meters but no more than 200 meters on majority of days."
I don't know where she gets "Functional history finds claimant can only manage to walk for around 4 minutes" bit as this is just not true. I told her if on the very odd occasion I went out for a coffee with my sister I could only walk for at most for a couple of minutes. At the very slow pace I walk because of fatigue and pain I would be lucky if I went about 10 meters.
In light of this report I'm not sure if I should just submit a Mandatory reconsideration request for both these components? or ask for a review?
I would welcome any advice and help please.
If there is new evidence from my Physiotherapist and also being assessed for an electric chair lift for my house to get me upstairs does this mean it should be a review?

Thanks Monica.

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