Walking distance question

samahira

hi
can anyone tell me how to answer the distance question. I am due to call dwp and I am little concern they may ask about my mobility. I hardly go out for a walk. 

Regards

woodbine

Hi when you do go out for a walk how far can you walk?, its not a trick question and theres no right or wrong answer, do you use a walking stick or other aid? can you do it safely ? can you do it repeatedly?
If you google "pip and walking" it will give you some ideas.

mikehughescq

There is no “how to”. There is no template. There is simply answering and describing in detail. 

justlooking88

They will ask you examples, so if you can think of some it would be helpful. 

E.g

When I go to the supermarket it takes about 1-2 minutes to walk from the car to the shop, then I have to sit on a bench and rest because of my pain while my partner gets a trolley, I have to stop every 1, 2 3 etc aisles otherwise my pain becomes much worse, on a bad day I wouldn’t go or I’d sit in the cafe. If I went on a Wednesday then I’d have to leave it 2-3 days because increased pain and fatigue.

or

i walk to the co-op 3 days a week, it takes 5 minutes but I have to stop once and rest because of breathless, on the other days I wouldn’t be able to because it would over exert me

or 

I can only walk to and from the bathroom but it take me 2 minutes to walk 20 steps and I have to lean against the walls for support.

If you have no examples then that’s ok, just explain why, e.g cannot walk outside due to pain etc

If you’ve fallen talk about how often and why they happened and then how did you get up etc

that’s the sort of information they should be asking and looking for. A good HP will look for examples of what you can and cannot do and then follow them through.

hope it helps a bit.

samahira

Thank you

mikehughescq

The examples from @justlooking88 are interesting but as fine example as I have ever seen of assertion rather than evidence. They are a starting point but taken literally as examples your claim would fail if that was how you proceeded. Let’s take the longest as an example. It’s assertion rather than evidence because literally anyone could write it. It lacks masses of detail including fundamental things like distances which would allow a HCP to infer stuff in the absence of that basic detail. It only becomes evidence when you relate it to a real world incident. I’ve rewritten it so you can see what I mean.

I could and would go on longer than this. There is for example much to be said about who picks up items off shelves; who puts them in the trolley. What happens when the trolley is full and heavy. How payment is handled and so on. 

Ask yourself which person is more real to you. The one above or the one below. The one below is on their way to qualifying. 

justlooking88 said:

They will ask you examples, so if you can think of some it would be helpful. 

E.g

When I go Last Wednesday I went to the supermarket. My daughter drives me as I can no longer drive because of the pain in my right foot and my left hand. My partner comes with me to assist. When she collects me I have to walk down two steps from the house using the installed hand rail and a walking stick provided by the NHS in my right hand. It is about 10 yards to the road and it takes me about a minute to get there. She will sometimes link arms with me and she has to assist me into the front passenger seat as I struggle to stoop without my knees giving way even if I hold onto the door. I have fallen between the kerb and road twice attempting to do this by myself in recent months and have cracked my head open on the door once to the extent I bled and needed to be taken back into the house to be treated and recuperate.  

The supermarket is Aldi. Google Maps shows it is about 75 yards from my house. My daughter is aware I can no longer walk that distance and there are no safe resting places en route. My daughter parks in an accessible parking space which is about 10 yards from the supermarket entrance. She sometimes has to drive round and wait for one to become available. Although It takes about 1-2 minutes to walk from the car if she parks further away I prefer her to park right next to the shop else I will have exhausted myself just getting across the car park and either have to  rest I have to sit on a bench and rest because of my pain while my partner  gets a trolley. If I make it into the shop I have to use the trolley to support me all the way round. My daughter and my partner will often leave me standing with the trolley and go and go do my shopping without me I have to stop every 1, 2 3 etc aisles otherwise my pain becomes much worse, On a bad worse day I wouldn’t go or I’d sit in the cafe, which is located to the immediate left of the entrance a further 10 yards into the shop. My partner would buy me coffee and a cake and carry the tray to a table for me as I can’t do it myself when walking with my stick. I have attempted this myself but dropped the tray about six months ago. If I went on a Wednesday then I’d have to leave it 2-3 days before any further shop because increased pain and fatigue would over exert me

samahira

Thank you for your detailed examples. Very helpful

samahira

I was asked to call dwp if I want to carry on with my pip which will end March 2021. I called today and I was asked to provide basic information name, address, account details, health professionals looking after me, etc. They will send a form to fill in with my condition. It seems like a new application. But last time I had to go to tribunal to get higher rate for both. I was hopping they would renew without any forms as my condition is still the same. Would appreciate if Anyone can give some advice.

poppy123456

Ah, if you mentioned the Tribunal award previously, i missed that. The phone call today is normal procedure and the questions you were asked is the first part of your claim (PIP1 form) You will now be sent more PIP2 forms to fill in with all your information which will need to be sent back by the date on the letter, although you can ask for an extension of time by ringing DWP. Yes, it's a new claim.

Expect a telephone assessment, which most people are having. Paper based assessments are still rare. If a decision hasn't been made by the date my March 2021 then your PIP will end. If awarded successfully then it will be backdated to the date it stopped.

samahira

Thank you for explaining. Because I had to go tribunal is that the reason for the new claim?

poppy123456

You're welcome. Yes that's the reason. Although it doesn't really matter anyway because all claims should be treated as a new claim by claimants. The only difference between a new claim and a review is the form for a review is slightly shorter but this doesn't mean you should give less information.

samahira

I wanted some information on carers allowance. My daughter was my carer until she started working full time in November. She informed Dwp to stop carers allowance in writing. They seem to be still making the payments up until now. But after six weeks of her employment she left as she had to provide care for me. She now started working for two days a week but still earns little bit over the threshold to claim carers allowance.
can anyone advise me if she can still claim carers allowance as she genuinely had to go part time because of me. 

Thank you

woodbine

I have answered that on your seperate thread.