Enhanced mobility pip

emmaelizabeth123

hi 

I have read peoples stories about lose high rate because they have filmed walking their dog. i wLk my dog with my partner and use a stick. I take two different painkillers before and am in pain still walk round and later. The go said to walk. 

Im worried now that I might lose pip. I don’t walk very fast as I can’t. But I some time go wuite far just over a longer time period than others. 

Im worried that I might lose high rate now. People have been film too walking their dog so now I’m worried that I shouldn’t go walking with dog 

any advice welcome 

Adrian_Scope

Hello @emmaelizabeth123, I've moved your thread over to the PIP section of the community so hopefully you can get a little more help with your query. 

cristobal

@emmaelizabeth123....personally I wouldn't worry about walking your dog, unless this is inconsistent with what you said at your assessment (in which case the answer is to let DWP know, not stop walking!) Exercise is good for you.

The mobility award isn't necessarily for people who can't walk. 

If you walk slowly you will qualify as you aren't able to walk at half the speed of an unimpaired person.

If you need to have a long break between walks before you can repeat them you will qualify.

Pipquestions2

I find it unlikely they will stalk you unless they have a reason to suspect fraud. There's far too many people claiming to go around stalking people's lives (not to mention probably illegal without good reason to do so)

And if you're not frauding them then there's nothing to worry about. 

Not sure if it applies to the mobility part but there's the 50% rule too. If you can walk one day but then it causes you so much pain for 2 days after it that you can't walk and need to rest you should still fit the descriptor 

Pipquestions2

ilovecats said:

The assessors will definitely not film you. If you can only do one walk a week or it leaves you in pain that will be taken into consideration. @cristobal is correct, walking slowly is taken into consideration however if you tell them that you walk your dog everyday for 5 minutes slowly with walking sticks, this would be worked out to be an A or a B depending on other things such as your pain and reliability. Reporting good efficacy of pain medication is also taken into consideration.

You need to obtain a C or higher to be awarded under Activity 12.

However, to obtain the high rate mobility you have to be able to evidence that you cannot reliably, safely, repeatedly or within a timely manner, walk any further than 20m on the majority of days. 

Think he means the DWP. There's been news articles of the DWP watching people claiming benefits to catch them in the act of fraud.

Can't find the exact article but I remember someone claimed  mobility for the moving around descriptor and DWP watched him watch his dog, he thought he was being watched ( I think he also had schizophrenia or some form of paranoia too) and started running, later he was pulled in and called out on his fraud, which he later started he couldn't leave the house because he thought he was under constant surveillance 

It was a good while ago but I do remember reading that, maybe 2? Years ago.

But as long as you've told them how your effected to the best of your ability you don't have any worries. DWP aren't going to waste their time watching everyone claiming benefits unless they gave good reason to believe there's fraud involved. 

drewdundee

I can barely stand and walk for 2 minutes and i was recently awarded 10 points. I walk with a crutch too when i do. If you are out walking your dog for any length of time and get higher rate mobility im a little jealous.

emmaelizabeth123

Maybe you should appeal? That doesn’t seem right. I take over 12 painkillers a day. That does not include my other medication which is a lot . I also have other conditions. I am in constant pain. I walk very slow and it is painful to walk. I go out with the dog because I don’t want my legs and hips to completely seize up and this is what the consultant and go recommended. I really would appeal if you can only barely stand. 
Thank you all for replying.

poppy123456

I think it will depend how often you take your dog for a walk.

drewdundee

Im on a litany of painkillers lol. 2700 gabapentin, 8 tramadol a day, ibuprofen and amitryptaline at night 50mg dose lolol most days i dont even feel myself and now im back at work with taxi's ferrying me everywhere lol. Just counted 22 pain pills a day lol

Pipquestions2

@ilovecats @emmaelizabeth123 @poppy123456 @cristobal

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/benefits-spy-squad-order-ms-sufferer-to-pay-back-19000-after-surveillance-operation/

This is the news article I was referring to before

drewdundee

I don't know how i feel about this one. I don't have any good days so i can't really comment. I guess if i did have good and bad days if be worried if was getting the mobility component yet am out and about walking dogs. Id probably get reassessed out of fear.

emmaelizabeth123

People with mobility problems do walk. Pip look at pain and the time it takes to walk. You should of appealed if you thought you were entitled to high mobility. That is the only advice I can give you. I walk slow and in pain EVERYDAY including when I go with my partner and dog but I don’t want to end up not being able to get out of a chair. Which is what the consultant said to me if I don’t keep trying to walk. As for meds I take 26 tablets a day not including pain medication or the injections I have. I am not blagging to get pip I have a genuine problem but even genuine people get worried. 

[Deleted User]

I've probably lost mine because the assessor decided that I no longer have MH problems when nothing has changed since the first assessment, I'll be making a complaint once I get the decision.

I think they only record you if someone reports you for fraud, I don't see why they would bother otherwise.

mikehughescq

ilovecats said:

Pipquestions2 said:

@ilovecats @emmaelizabeth123 @poppy123456 @cristobal

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/benefits-spy-squad-order-ms-sufferer-to-pay-back-19000-after-surveillance-operation/

This is the news article I was referring to before

This is a good example where physical fluctuations have not been taken into account and have been awarded based on bad days only which clearly in this case were not the majority of days!

The quality of DWP surveillance is appalling and mostly misleading. I would challenge anyone to find me a case like this in the media which succeeded where the claimant was initially represented. A case like this simply wouldn’t have made it beyond tribunal let alone court. If you believe stories like this then you are a tad naive in my view. This claimant has a case for PIP and it simply wasn’t presented. I can’t pretend I know for sure the outcome would definitely have been different but the issue here is neither overpayment nor fraud. It’s that an unrepresented case went wrong when that need not have been the case. 

cristobal

@mikehughescq - I'm interested to know what do you mean by the "quality" of surveillance. It will obviously only represent a moment in time, which wouldn't be a lot of use to prove/disprove whether someone can do something if their condition varies. Is this what you mean? Or is it 'edited'?

mikehughescq

@cristobal I posted a detailed response to your question some days ago. For reasons which they have not explained to me nor posters on various threads Scope have elected to not publish that response. 

Chloe_Scope

Hi @mikehughescq,

Posts which go against guidelines are not approved, this include if the content has negative tone or is targeted at one user. As moderators of the community we try our best to ensure all members are respectful of one another and do not want any users to become upset. If you have any issues then please email us on [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Many thanks,
Chloe