Hello everybody, just a quick question as Iam presently on high rate mobility for DLA I will be assessed for pip this year. I saw my consultant in December 2014 who documented that I could walk around the house no more than 200metres with a stick holding onto the walls but am wheelchair bound outside the house.Therefore I wondered how far I would be expected to walk to get high rate mobility payments.
He did not observe me walking & never asked me to stand, 200 metres seems like a long walk does anybody know how many steps this is. Thank you in advance for any replies.
If you can’t stand or walk one metre or can stand and walk more than one metre and no more than 20 metres aided or unaided then you should be entitled to the enhanced rate PIP for the mobility component. The mobility component has two criterias the distance you can walk and also around planning and following a journey.
I dont know how many steps are roughly taken in 200 metres but I do know based on the PIP criteria if you can walk up to 200 metres at the most you would only be awarded 4 points. If you only received 4 points you wouldn’t be entitled to any rate of the mobility component so would need points from the planning and following a journey section.
your walking (or lack thereof) sounds pretty similar to mine.
200m is about the length of 20 double decker buses. That’s a blooming long way. There’s no way that you set off in your home and walk 200m in one go.(unless you live in a very different home to mine)
Your consultant really shouldn’t have bandied about distances based on nothing more than chatting to you because the higher mobility figure is 50m (about 5 double decker buses) however he did qualify it by saying hanging on to furniture etc. You will have to give a very full answer on the PIP form (don’t be afraid of using extra sheets) to ensure that the DWP don’t latch onto that 200m and look no further. When I was filling in my ESA application I measured the distance to my shed (about 12M) and then set about trying it out. On the form I put how far I could walk with no aids, how far with a stick and how far with a rolator.
Walking, or furniture surfing in your own home is one thing but the walking question should be considered as getting from a to b on a flat footpath - outside. You must mention how fatigue and safety affects you and also consider repeatability. If you can walk 50M once could you turn round and do it again, without a rest? The length you can walk is how far you can go before you have to stop for a rest or when your legs no longer move correctly ( after so far my feet get jumbled up and that’s the time to stop or I’ll be kissing the pavement)
If you want your consultant to provide supporting evidence for your PIP application I would try to clarify the 200m issue with him. I suspect that he has the old DLA distance in his head and was not aware of the new 50M distance. I don’t for a moment think that he was trying to burn you, just didn’t know. It would be better if he left M out of it altogether because it was a made up distance after all.
Ive just read your reply and hope you don’t mind me asking is new 50 metre rule for DLA applicants or PIP? I’m just asking as I was awarded standard mobility for PIP based on I can walk more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres without stopping for break as I have really bad leg tremors. I knew when it was changed to 20 metres it caused some outrage and some support groups were trying to have it increased back up to 50 metres.
I was just wondering if it has been changed for PIP.
No it isn’t sorry but to get enhanced it can’t be more then 20 do a reconsideration on the mobility if you cannot walk more then 20 meters I can’t so I put in a change of circumstances when awarded I got standard and no diagnoses I was diagnosed 9 months later but I have a great gp and neurologist and lots of medical evidence.
No I’m an idiot - sorry. I started my reply by looking up the length of a bus so that I could make it real and decided it was 2 (actually 20m not 200m) that’s when I got confused and started blathering rubbish. Only half way through did I twig that it would be twenty buses!!
You are quite right it’s 20m on pip. 200m is a ridiculous figure for the consultant to put without any quantities assessment. A person who relays on a wheelchair outside is highly unlikely to be able to walk 200M.
Im sorry for being confusing - I’m rubbish with numbers, obviously!
That’s what I thought it was still 20 metres, I wasn’t sure if I missed out on it being changed. Ive been on my PIP for over a year now. My G.P who is brilliant at the time told me to challenge for the higher mobility but at the time I rather stressed and depressed I couldn’t face it. I was just relieved to be awarded something. My award runs out March 2016 so should be receiving my renew in March this year as they send it out a year before. I’m in a better place mentally as was newly diagnosed when I applied so maybe I will challenge this time if I need to as my walking is so variable on a daily basis it’s hard really to quantify it.
Hi Pollyb, try benefits and work site for excellent guidance on PIP, from my own assessment its not just about can you but can you in reasonable time, without pain or risk of falling and if it would render you incapable of carrying out any other necessary tasks afterwards.
Challenge it now you will still get paid until a decision is made get cab to fill it in, send in medical evidence with it I have challenged mine I was diagnosed 9 months after award, it don’t expire until 2017 but I can barely walk at all I am PPMS but challenge it I am and dwp don’t think I’ll need another assessment so waiting now.
When I got awarded last year I was really fortunate not have went to an assessment based on all the evidence I submitted. My G.P like I said is brilliant when she was asked to send in her evidence to the DWP she called me and booked me a double appointment. She discussed with me the points on her report and also took down a lot of my points aswell as even she said it’s really hard for them to give us evidence based on what they see in a 10 minutes appointment with MS being a variable illness. I have RRMS but I have been left with permanent damages with my legs and feet, I lose the feeling in them daily throughout the day sometimes for a few minutes but at its worst it can go on for a few hours.
I will give the DWP a call and see about getting the forms send out now rather than waiting to March as my legs have got weaker.
