Applying for PIP for my hip pain and how it affects me daily

@barokut

PIP is not based on employment status, and the forms do not ask whether you are working.  It is a benefit for both employed and unemployed people. I work thirty hours a week myself and receive enhanced mobility and enhanced daily living, and across three assessments since 2018 they have focused only on how my conditions affect me against the descriptors.  I did tell them at the assessment that I was working, but their focus was simply on whether my employer had put any reasonable adjustments in place to support me.

The reasonable adjustments your employer has put in place so that you can continue working actually strengthen your claim. They show that your condition has a substantial impact on your day to day functioning and that you cannot carry out your role without support.

Everything you have described, including difficulty with stairs, needing frequent rest days, pain and pins and needles, customers coming to you to collect their deliveries, and the restaurant bringing items out to you, clearly shows significant functional limitation.

Please do not worry about the gym either. The location does not matter. If the physio had told you to do the same exercises at home, in a park, or in a swimming pool, it would still be treated as therapy.  If you are only going because your physio has given you specific hip exercises, that is not “going to the gym” in the usual sense, it is prescribed therapy.  

You can explain that at the gym you are doing slow, targeted physio movements rather than general fitness, that you still struggle, and that the exercises do not remove your mobility problems.  Doing physio in a gym setting does not show that you can walk far or manage stairs, it simply shows that you are trying to manage your condition, which falls under the managing treatments activity for PIP.

Your claim was not successful the first time, but with PIP it really does come down to how you word things and how you describe your circumstances.  You might just need a bit of support with how you present it.  Keeping simple notes of your rest, bad days, when the pain flares, when you cannot complete deliveries or normal everyday tasks, and what adaptations you rely on will really help.  Evidence from your physio or GP explaining your limitations will also make a difference.

When you fill in the forms or go to an assessment, focus on your worst days, the help you need, and the after effects such as pain, fatigue and recovery time.  It might also be worth speaking to Citizens Advice or a welfare rights adviser, and gathering strong medical evidence so your situation is properly understood.