Pip mobility review

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Stotty1

Hi to everyone that reads this , im writing this because i scored 4pts on the planning a journey section , now if im right when the dwp review all claims the people who scored 0pts or 4pts will not get thier score upgraded because these were the descriptors before the government changed the wording about mental distress , i would be grateful if anyone can clarify this for me as my support worker goes with me to any appointments i have , even at my pip assessment my manager from the project im currently living at attended it with me but yet still only got the 4pts. 

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hello Stotty1

The government made changes to the mobility descriptor which were then found to be unlawful. This means that they had to go back to the old mobility descriptors. The old and current descriptors are detailed below: 

Current descriptors (as from March 2017)

The descriptors are:

a. Can plan and follow the route of a journey unaided. 0 points.

b. Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. 4 points.

c. Cannot plan the route of a journey. 8 points.

d. Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid. 10 points.

e. Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. 10 points.

f. Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. 12 points.

The old descriptors
The old descriptors are (changes in bold by me):

a. Can plan and follow the route of a journey unaided. 0 points.

b. Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. 4 points.

c. For reasons other than psychological distress, cannot plan the route of a journey. 8 points.

d. For reasons other than psychological distress, cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid. 10 points.

e. Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. 10 points.

f. For reasons other than psychological distress, cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. 12 points.

So the descriptors affected are 1c, 1d and 1f. 

The government are currently reviewing around 1.6 million PIP claims to see if their award should be reviewed in light of the above changes.  We do not know yet exactly how PIP are reviewing the awards and exactly which awards will be reviewed. It is also not automatic that awards will be increased it will depend on whether firstly an award is reviewed and secondly if a decision maker agrees that a claimant should be in another descriptor which more points.  

Hope the above helps

Maria