PIP Entitlement Question

haam
haam Online Community Member Posts: 14 Listener
edited October 2023 in PIP, DLA, ADP and AA
This is a bit complicated but I'll try to make it simpler. 

I currently get standard PIP for both elements and it is in review. I have a support worker (that I pay for out of my benefits) helping me who believes I should have got enhanced for both but my assessment was conducted poorly, and the support worker said they will push to get it put up to enhanced in review and we have done all the paperwork and sent it off. However, we hit a bit of a sticky point. Where I currently live I am very isolated (it's a small village with poor amenities- the shops are miles away) and a friend suggested a mobility scooter to get me more independent and so I can go out and see people again - go to the shops, clubs etc. I mentioned this to the support worker and they got really funny with me, and said to me that if I got a scooter they wouldn't be helping me with my PIP anymore. I asked them what they meant and they said that they had written on the form that I found it difficult to get out and about due to my health conditions, and if I got a scooter and was able to go to the shop they would be lying to the DWP. At the time I said fair enough and left it because I didn't want to be without their help and support and they were really off with me after that and I didn't want to upset them, but this week I was talking to a social prescribing support worker at my GP surgery and she urged me to check out what the support worker was saying because she thought that this support worker might have misunderstood PIP and possibly my own health conditions. I have multiple complex health conditions which wouldn't actually be cured by me getting a scooter, but I do suffer from chronic nausea and motion sickness which would be exacerbated by using a scooter but I felt like my independence was important and I wanted to see if I could do it. And if you get enhanced PIP you can get a scooter out of your money if you wanted to so I wasn't sure either. 

Is the support worker right in what they are saying? Obviously if they are I'm not going to get a scooter, but if there's a chance I could get one I'd like to, and start to leave the house again and go to a shop.

Thanks

Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    edited August 2023
    A mobility scooter itself wouldn't prevent you from being awarded the mobility part. Whether it's possible to score points here will depend on how your conditions affect you.

    There's 2 parts to mobility.. following and planning a journey, which focus's on mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments.

    Moving around focus's on physical ability to move around without pain and discomfort, such as breathlessness, pain and fatigue.

    You mention chronic nausea and motion sickness but you don't give any other information. It does really depend on how exactly those conditions affect you as it's not awarded based on any diagnosis.

    Very difficult to give any advice without a lot more information.


  • surfygoose
    surfygoose Online Community Member Posts: 514 Empowering
    I think the social prescriber sounds more correct that the support worker misunderstood because lots of people on PIP have mobility scooters. Like you say, you can use enhanced PIP mobility to lease a mobility scooter or motability vehicle to help you get out and about. Those vehicles don’t cure your disability, you are eligible to them with enhanced PIP because of your disability being recognised as such that you couldn’t get out and about without having a mobility scooter for example. It would only be lying to PIP if for instance you told them that you can’t use your arms whatsoever and yet you are riding around on a mobility scooter and using your arms to steer it, or if you told them that you can’t find the way to the shops on your own when in fact you can. Otherwise I don’t understand why there should be any issue having a scooter because it will help you get out and about. Maybe explain to your support worker that lots of disabled people use mobility vehicles.
  • haam
    haam Online Community Member Posts: 14 Listener
    poppy123456 said:
    A mobility scooter itself wouldn't prevent you from being awarded the mobility part. Whether it's possible to score points here will depend on how your conditions affect you.

    There's 2 parts to mobility.. following and planning a journey, which focus's on mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments.

    Moving around focus's on physical ability to move around without pain and discomfort, such as breathlessness, pain and fatigue.

    You mention chronic nausea and motion sickness but you don't give any other information. It does really depend on how exactly those conditions affect you as it's not awarded based on any diagnosis.

    Very difficult to give any advice without a lot more information.


    Hi! Thanks for your reply.

    I have damage to my balance system due to repeated ear infections that I failed to compensate from, so I fall frequently, have problems with spatial awareness and depth perception and also gives me chronic nausea and motion sickness, I also suffer from Mal De Debarquement which is pretty cool when it starts up. I also have Fibromyalgia and chronic migraines and have permanent aura. 

    Thanks for explaining where the Support Worker might be coming from with all this. I think it's difficult to know what to do, because I am unwell, I do suffer a lot, but I'm stuck here alone, I can't go far walking, but I sort of feel like if I could have got out a bit more, I probably wouldn't actually get off the scooter even if I did end up being ok. But I'm so cut off living here and I want to be independent.
  • haam
    haam Online Community Member Posts: 14 Listener
    poppy123456 said:
    A mobility scooter itself wouldn't prevent you from being awarded the mobility part. Whether it's possible to score points here will depend on how your conditions affect you.

    There's 2 parts to mobility.. following and planning a journey, which focus's on mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments.

    Moving around focus's on physical ability to move around without pain and discomfort, such as breathlessness, pain and fatigue.

    You mention chronic nausea and motion sickness but you don't give any other information. It does really depend on how exactly those conditions affect you as it's not awarded based on any diagnosis.

    Very difficult to give any advice without a lot more information.


    Hi! Thanks for your reply.

    I have damage to my balance system due to repeated ear infections that I failed to compensate from, so I fall frequently, have problems with spatial awareness and depth perception and also gives me chronic nausea and motion sickness, I also suffer from Mal De Debarquement which is pretty cool when it starts up. I also have Fibromyalgia and chronic migraines and have permanent aura. 

    Thanks for explaining where the Support Worker might be coming from with all this. I think it's difficult to know what to do, because I am unwell, I do suffer a lot, but I'm stuck here alone, I can't go far walking, but I sort of feel like if I could have got out a bit more, I probably wouldn't actually get off the scooter even if I did end up being ok. But I'm so cut off living here and I want to be independent. 
  • Albus_Scope
    Albus_Scope Posts: 9,845 Scope Online Community Coordinator
    Heya @haam I noticed your post had gone quiet and I just wanted to check in and see how you were getting on?  Did the information help at all?  Any luck with getting a scooter? 
  • haam
    haam Online Community Member Posts: 14 Listener
    edited September 2023
    @Albus_Scope Thank you for your reply. No, I'm still none the wiser unfortunately but thank you to the people who kindly commented to offer advice and help. I didn't get the scooter because I didn't want to be found out by the support worker. The support worker is really the only help I have (the social prescriber didn't really want to get involved in my PIP) and I didn't want to jeopardise my benefits by getting a scooter. It didn't seem worth losing my support and benefits over. I don't have any family and I was cut off from my friends when my HA Landlord rehoused me in a village from the city as my one offer of housing after the property I was living in was unsuitable for me and the council refused to help me.
  • Jimm_Alumni
    Jimm_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,717 Championing
    I'm sorry to hear you didn't get the scooter @haam. I do think what your support worker said to you was very odd. They are there to help you and make living for your more comfortable, so it seems odd they would be so against you getting something that helps you get around? 
  • haam
    haam Online Community Member Posts: 14 Listener
    edited September 2023
    @Jimm_Scope Thank you. To be honest I really don't get it or understand what the problem is because I thought the same as you. I did think maybe he was being a bit controlling by saying it, but I don't feel able to challenge him on it because I need the help and can't manage alone. I'd tried to get help from Social Services first but was unsuccessful (they told me to buy a microwave and a colouring in book and go to a colouring club) so I had no choice but to start paying out of my benefits for the help I needed. But when I did speak to the social prescriber (at the suggestion of my GP) she was full of lovely suggestions for clubs I could go to and arranged for a referral to a club and they would come and collect me as well which is brilliant, but the support worker never made any of those suggestions. To be honest I'm tired of the whole thing. I miss being close to my friends and being independent. I hate sitting here waiting for someone to come and take me to Tesco and watching all my neighbours going off in their cars. I don't hate any of them but I just want to live.

Categories