walking 20 metres

davet
davet Community member Posts: 77 Contributor
can someone please explain to me the dwp obsession with the ability to walk 20 metres,I fail to see the relevance my assessor made two notes on my report that in his opinion I was able to walk 20 metres, as there is no  local transport near my house and my nearest shop is over a mile away close to my doctor what good is the ability to walk 20 metres? or at this distance does something magical happen and disabilities are instantly cured, I fail to see the facination with it

Comments

  • CockneyRebel
    CockneyRebel Community member Posts: 5,195 Championing
    Surely everyone knows that 20 metres is the distance to the end of the rainbow. At which point your pot of gold ( enhanced mobility ) disappears into the leprechauns (DWP)  pot of gold. To retrieve it you need to give the leprechaun a swift kick up the backside (appeal)
    I hope that helps
  • wildlife
    wildlife Community member Posts: 1,289 Trailblazing
    @Davet Your ability to walk is not based on how far you need to walk in your daily life to shops or wherever. It's how far you could walk if you wanted to go anywhere at anytime. Or just out for a walk. The decision is based on what you put on your claim form, watching you on the day of your assessment, what you tell them and medical evidence. At least that's how it's supposed to be done. The assessor's mostly just make up their own mind according to how few points they think they .can get away with giving you when they write their report. They will find any small excuse to say you are able to walk more than 20, 50 or 200 meters.   
  • Matilda
    Matilda Community member Posts: 2,592 Championing
    @davet

    The 20 meter rule is arbitrary, designed to allow as few people as possible to qualify for enhanced moving around mobility.  This limit has been reduced over the years.  At one time it was 100 meters for higher rate DLA, then 50 meters, now 20 meters for PIP.  I wonder when it will be reduced even more - because the Government think that still too many people are qualifying for enhanced moving around.

    Though even DWP rules state it's 20 meters, stop to rest for a minute or so, then another 20 meters and so on.  I don't think any limit has been set for the number of times the 20 meters/rest stop can be repeated.  The point is that you must only be able to walk 20 meters before you need to stop and rest.

    There is case law that states that people can still qualify for enhanced if they can walk farther than 20 meters at a time but have to push through pain to do so.  If the 20 meters were up in the middle of the road, they'd have no option but to push through pain to get to the other side.