Carer claiming pip for mobility issues

Spudster · May 2019

My husband is my full time carer he has just been diagnosed with generalized sensory motor atonal peripheral neuropathy in his lower limbs he has pain numbness and sharp shooting pains in his ankles and feet he is under a consultant and having more test he is struggling bad with walking so has applied for pip can he get mobility part of pip and still get carers .

Chloe_Scope · May 2019

Hi @Spudster and welcome to the community! Here is what I found on Carers UK:

If you are a carer who has care needs, you can claim PIP for yourself and this will not affect your Carer’s Allowance.

It also might be helpful for your husband to fill out the PIP self help test online which would give him a vague indication about whether he would be awarded with PIP. However, this is based on your interpretations which isn't necessarily what an assessor would put- but definitely worth a look before putting a claim in!

Hope this helps and very best of luck if you do put a claim in

Adrian_Scope · May 2019

Welcome to the community @Spudster!

I hope @ilovecats and @Chloe_Scope have answered your question but if you need any more help please don’t hesitate to ask.

atlas46 · May 2019

Hi @Spudster

The simple answer is yes, your husband can claim PIP whilst being your Carer.

I would recommended that he seeks, advice from a welfare rights officer, for them to assist with the claims process.

Keep us informed.

Spudster · May 2019

Thanks for all your comments really helpfull i will tell him to get advice as well.

twonker · May 2019

ilovecats said:

Claiming carers allowance would indicate a certain level of ability so he most likely will not get a daily living award.

With regards to mobility, the diagnosis is not as important, rather how it affects him. You would need to evidence how and why he cannot walk more than 50m repeatedly to gain even a standard award.

Absolutely. The DWP will have the opportunity of looking at her claim for DLA/PIP in order to see if there is any conflict with what she claims to have difficulty with + the fact that her husband has said that he cares for her for at least 35 hours a week. It is quite common place now in these types of cases for the DWP to include the partners claim form for a Tribunal hearing.
More attention is now given to see if claiming carers contradicts a claim.

mikehughescq · May 2019

ilovecats said:

Claiming carers allowance would indicate a certain level of ability so he most likely will not get a daily living award.

With regards to mobility, the diagnosis is not as important, rather how it affects him. You would need to evidence how and why he cannot walk more than 50m repeatedly to gain even a standard award.

The phrase “most likely” is inaccurate in this context. It is, as has been observed, perfectly possible to claim both and that has been the case for many years. More recently tribunals and the DWP have tried to put receipt of CA at issue in appeals but recent case-law has made it very clear that a broad brush approach to this is not acceptable.

You would have to find an activity performed by a carer which coincides with an activity they receive points for under PIP. Even then that only allows the question to be asked. It does not automatically disentitle to PIP or lose points. For example a person could score points for using an aid to prepare food. Preparing food for the person they care for would not lose those points. Equally, if they scored points for not being able to reliably prepare food (perhaps because they could not do so repeatedly) they would not lose those points just because they did the same for the person they care for.

Carer claiming pip for mobility issues

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