Pip and driving

madee93 · June 2023

Ive herd alot of peoples claims being wrongly assessed due to the fact they can drive...i recently had my assessment and told them i can drive but literally only for 5 mins before my foot cramps and starts hurting due to nerve damage from cauda equina syndrome. Im very anxious now and feel i have messed up my claim by being honest! Can anyone give any advice on this or their experience as a driver applying for pip thanks xx

poppy123456 · June 2023

I’ve claimed PIP for 10 years almost and driving has never gone against me. Yes, sometimes driving can be a reason for not awarding points in some descriptors and is often a copy and paste reason.

All you can do now is wait for the decision because at the moment you can’t speculate anything. Once the report is returned to DWP a decision can take up to 12 weeks.

WelshBlue · June 2023

I've got Enhanced Daily Care and standard mobility . Not once has the fact I can drive gone against me.
This is from the initial claim and 2 reviews

I've only been asked once about my driving and that was the Decision Maker on my last review, who asked if I drive a manual or automatic (manual), and increased my Daily Living from Standard to Enhanced because of worsening condition

Good luck

2oldcodgers · June 2023

WelshBlue said:

I've got Enhanced Daily Care and standard mobility . Not once has the fact I can drive gone against me.
This is from the initial claim and 2 reviews

I've only been asked once about my driving and that was the Decision Maker on my last review, who asked if I drive a manual or automatic (manual), and increased my Daily Living from Standard to Enhanced because of worsening condition

Good luck

I was also asked if I drove by the assessor. I told her that I did on and off because of my mental health issues. Then she asked me that if I had driven a distance from home on my own and then felt unable to carry on what I would do. I told her that my wife would drive instead.
I knew what she was getting at was that if my mental health was so severe how could I possible drive thereby trying to undermine what I had said on the claim form.

StillIRise · June 2023

madee93 said:

Ive herd alot of peoples claims being wrongly assessed due to the fact they can drive...i recently had my assessment and told them i can drive but literally only for 5 mins before my foot cramps and starts hurting due to nerve damage from cauda equina syndrome. Im very anxious now and feel i have messed up my claim by being honest! Can anyone give any advice on this or their experience as a driver applying for pip thanks xx

I think it would depend on each person's specific case. I have severe dissociative symptoms, meaning that I have no awareness of hazard and suddenly have no idea where I am or what I'm doing. So I've been told b my psychiatrist I must never drive. So it would seem very odd to someone assessing my PIP claim if I was able to drive. It wouldn't make sense given my symptoms. But for somebody with different symptoms and different limitations there's no reason they shouldn't drive. Why would they even have the Motability scheme if they were going to penalise claimants of PIP for being able to drive?

Please don't worry. I hope everything goes smoothly for you and no reason to assume it won't.

JB2023 · June 2023

I said the same thing in my assessment, but I requested the report before my decision (still pending) to see what has been put down. It didn't go against me, but I've seen a lot of people on here say it has had some effect. Maybe request the assessment then you can see what's been added.

All the best, good luck

WelshBlue · June 2023

2oldcodgers said:

I was also asked if I drove by the assessor. I told her that I did on and off because of my mental health issues. Then she asked me that if I had driven a distance from home on my own and then felt unable to carry on what I would do. I told her that my wife would drive instead.
I knew what she was getting at was that if my mental health was so severe how could I possible drive thereby trying to undermine what I had said on the claim form.

I had to have a look at my award letter, realising I hadn't really read it ... driving only went against me because of the multitasking/cognitive etc involved, and couldn't be awarded points for planning and following a journey ... which is fair enough

The Daily Living wasn't affected because driving didn't contradict the descriptors and 12 points awarded

Really is a minefield and somewhat of a lottery as to who you speak to ?

I'm glad you kept your thoughts and answers 'inline' with their reasoning

66Mustang · June 2023

Might be no help to you as my issues are mental and not physical but just sharing my experience as I get PIP and drive.

I get enhanced Mobility PIP and I drive. In fact I drive a Motability car paid for by my PIP.

I get the PIP because I can only drive my car any distance (i.e. any further than the car park) if I have someone in the car with me. Being physically able to drive doesn't change the fact that mentally I need someone with me for support.

Edit to add: I explicitly said I drive in the PIP forms but went on to explain that I can't do so alone.

OverlyAnxious · June 2023

Back in 2019 one of the refusal lines in the letter after my awful face to face assessment was regarding driving. Although as Poppy said earlier in this thread, it seemed to be a fairly standard cut & paste line back then. I haven't heard of it being used so much recently.

Pip and driving

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