PIP Mobility query

Hi Anne
All PIP activities are required to be done safely in a reasonable time, to an acceptable standard and repeatedly. (ALL 4 criteria must apply.)
Many disabilities are not constant. Some days people will feel a bit better or sometimes worse. As you have identified other activities will often impact on the ability to do PIP tasks.
A while back, the courts decided that disabled people should be allowed to live as normal a life as possible. This has been called the Fairey principle from a case of that name. (Basically, you can argue why should a disabled person who eg can't do up buttons claim benefit for needing help, when they could simply just wear loose pull on clothes? Or you can argue why should a disabled person be precluded from benefit because he wants to look smart in a formal button up shirt and tie!) Hence as long as it is reasonable if you do other things that mean PIP activities can't be done this shouldn't matter.
Repetition means across the whole day as many times as reasonable. Cooking food might only need to be done say twice, toilet needs will several times, communication may be required the whole day long. Walking around will be somewhere in between. Hiwever, this is where the Fairey principle is important. It is totally reasonable for you to want to go to the shop in the morning because you need bread. Yes you could use the car as it's only 100 yards but disabled people still need to exercise, and it could be a nice day for a stroll. Come afternoon, you might remember that you need to post a letter, and in the evening you might have been invited to the neighbours house to a dinner party. It is neither unreasonable or inconceivable that you would therefore need or want to take a walk more than once a day. If you can't then you can't 'repeat.' If your fatigue etc from earlier precludes the possibility of subsequent walk/s you should score points. Remember, pain fatigue, breathlessness indicate not an acceptable standard. Moreover any walking done with severe discomfort has to be discounted; even if you can actually walk a mile, but this is really painful it won't matter!
(Although DWP might argue if you could genuinely go this far perhaps the pain/breathlessness etc doesn't actually comprise severe discomfort!) Hence it is better to say you can not walk Xm repeatedly across the whole day. Think about pain, fatigue etc Think about speed if you take more than twice as long as a non disabled person then you don't meet the time criteria. Maybe you have to take rests? A short rest maybe OK but a longer rest may mean that you do a series of shorter walks, rather than one longer one with a rest.
Finally PIP activities only need to be done for the majority of days. Everyone has better days where you can do more stuff! Or on the flip side there are days when you have to push yourself and grind through pain etc to achieve everything. Neither scenario means you should lose out on points! If you can show that you can't do X/need help etc for the majority of days you should score points.
Balance, falls etc are all relevant to safety.
Match the 4 criteria to your abilities to do (each)PIP task. Try and work out what you can do that falls within all 4, as the majority pattern. ( Writing a disability diary csn be very helpful to identify patterns, and what you can't do and when, and may help to pinpoint which descriptor applies). For walking you can always try and note the distance, where you rest, and for how long- you can get a friend to pace out or measure the distance too. Note where you get severe discomfort, if this happens at the front door, even after a metre or two, as discussed above, then your PIP walking ability is 2m only irrespective of how far you ultimately go. There is nothing wrong when you have determined your PIP distance to say eg I can only walk 35 m repeatedly, safely ...., and explain why.
I hope this helps.
LL26

Hi Anne,
Another thought.
I wouldn't necessary talk about credits. It might confuse DWP. You could say you have to pace yourself or just explain that any activity affects subsequent activity due to pain fatigue etc.
LL26

Hi Anne

I know the spoon theory well and the reasoning behind it. I'm with LL26 - I would not use the word credits in your answer or try and explain them as you have done so - it will lead to confusion and if the assessor or DWP are confused it never comes out well for the claimant.

BIS