Walking tracker app as evidence?

Hi Notyniki,

I don’t know the answer to this.

Hopefully one of the members will. In any case please let us know what the outcome is.

Regards
Pete

Hi Notyniki,
Many PIP claimants haven't got a clue how far or how fast they walk. It is often a guesstimate! However you can certainly use the tracker to measure your walking. Remember that it is not the absolute maximum you can walk, think about whether you have severe discomfort nb not the same as severe pain! This could be pain breathlessness, cramp, fatigue etc.
Think about whether you can repeat your walk later in the day or next day and do other daily living etc tasks as well . You need to be able to repeat as reasonably required. Maybe you need to walk the kids to school, you might then need to post a letter, perhaps you then want to go and visit your mum etc etc. None of these journeys would be unreasonable there may be more you would want to do. .
Remember that part of these journeys might be done by car, but a small part even if only from front drive to front door will be on foot. How many times can you do this? Can you do all these reasonable journeys every day? Do you need to rest? If so, your rest might mean one journey becomes 2 or 3 short walks. This is especially so if you can not complete the whole walk in a reasonable time. (ie no more than twice a non disabled person.) Think about safety too, how do you walk do you stumble or fall?
So, thinking about all of the 4 criteria then your tracker might help to work out the distance you can walk for PIP.(Not necessarily your absolute max, let's face it if you have severe discomfort after 7m but grind through the pain because eg you need to get to the bank at 350m away, for PIP you need to put walking distance = 7m!)
Stop the tracker when you get severe discomfort. Measure the time, including pauses. Do this over several days. Take into account fatigue etc and repeatability too.
You should then have your PIP walking ability, which is how far you go for the majority of days.
I don't think you necessarily have to send in the tracker evidence eg a print out, as it doesn't really mean anything in abstract. However, because you have used the tracker you will absolutely know how far you can walk, and can explain you have measured your ability to walk.
For comparison you could get an able bodied friend to do the same walk/s and time these etc as a check for reasonable time.
Your friend could confirm that the tracker was used properly and the numbers are correct.
I hope this helps.
LL26