No 4 point PIP descriptors results
| Submission ID: 1165515 |
| Date: 2025-04-10 18:50:32 |
| Nickname: Janet |
| Age: 59 |
| Main health condition: Physical health |
| Main conditions that affect daily living: Severe osteoarthritis both knees causing chronic pain, seriously impaired mobility and poor balance, carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands causing mild numbness, weakness and some difficulties with things like opening things/preparing food etc, bladder and bowel conditions causing urgency and sometimes incontinence, hyperthyroidism, type 2 diabetes and mild depression connected to living with the restrictions, pain and fatigue caused by my physical conditions |
| Rate of PIP daily living component: Standard |
| 4 point descriptor score: No |
| Possibility to score at least one 4-point daily living descriptor at the next review: I've only ever had 2 points across 4 descriptors for needing aids and adaptions for dressing, washing, cooking and using the toilet. I have aids for all these daily living activities provided by occupational therapy including a fully adapted bathroom, but as I can manage the activities myself (albeit slowly and carefully) as long as I use these aids and don't actively need someone else to help/prompt/remind etc, I won't get more than 2 points on any of the descriptors despite my condition being no better than it was last time I was assessed. |
| Tasks you struggle with on a day-to-day basis: I live with daily chronic pain and fatigue, don't sleep well due to being disturbed by pain, discomfort and frequent toilet trips during the night. My joints are stiff and painful, my balance is poor and I am unsteady, often stumbling and have in the last few weeks had a couple of falls which luckily were inside on carpet and didn't cause any serious injuries. I am restricted in the activities I can manage and have to pace myself to do even simple chores like doing laundry, light housework or making dinner, alternating between short periods of activity and longer periods of rest and waiting for the pain relief to take effect, which only ever takes the edge off the pain and never fully relieves it. Everything I do has to be done slowly and carefully, whether it be chores or self-care like dressing and showering, as I am very slow and conscious of not making any movements which may trigger a fall or put my knee at any sort of angle or bearing too much weight, to avoid aggravating the pain. I cannot enjoy the things I used to like doing, such as taking a long walk, gardening or even playing my piano as my hands go numb if I try to play it for more than a few minutes. |
| Expected income you will lose if the Green Paper cuts are imposed: I personally would lose about £300 every 4 weeks in PIP for standard daily living, plus another £400 a month for the UC LCWRA element if they link LCWRA to PIP entitlement, a loss of about £700 a month just from my entitlements alone. I also get PIP enhanced mobility which the government claim won't be affected, but I don't trust them at all and would expect it's only a matter of time before I lost this too. As my husband also receives PIP at standard daily living and standard mobility of £400 every 4 weeks plus the carer element of UC of around £200 a month for caring for me, if I were to lose my PIP daily living, he wouldn't qualify for carers element anymore and his entitlement would reduce from about £600 a month down to about £100 a month just for his standard mobility, a loss of about £500 Overall, we would lose about £1200 a month, which would leave us in unimaginable financial hardship and would be left with just the standard UC couple rate of about £600 a month plus our PIP mobility, which in no way would begin to cover our essential bills and food, We both have health conditions which are aggravated by the cold, so need to be able to heat our home adequately, due to my continence issues we have extra electricity costs for extra laundry and showers, the cost of incontinence supplies and extra clothing to make sure I always have something available to change into, and we have mobility scooters which need electricity to charge them, plus we are both diabetic so need a decent diet and regular meals to keep our blood sugars under control, plus we have medication which needs to be kept in the fridge for it to be effective. We live in a rural area and could not manage without a car, but being forced to live on basic UC would make it extremely difficult to afford to keep it and would probably mean me having to give up all of my PIP mobility for a motability car, leaving us with a terrifyingly low amount of money to live on to pay all our bills and food etc. |
| Expected problems if you tried moving into work, with support from a work coach: I haven't been able to work due to my health for the past 10 years, but before that I had a responsible, well paid job. I even did a degree after stopping work to try and re-train for a different career which I thought I'd be able to manage with my health problems, but my condition deteriorated and that ended up not being an option either. For me to work, I'd need a very flexible employer who'd be happy for me to set my own hours working from home so I could do my work when I'm able to. They would also need to be understanding of the time off I would need for regular medical appointments, both my own and the need to accompany my husband to all his appointments due to his mental health, memory issues and the fact he cannot drive himself home from his regular eye clinic appointments due to a serious eye condition he has which requires treatment at the hospital where he cannot drive himself home afterwards. Working at an employer's premises would be very difficult - there would need to be level access to the building, a disabled toilet very close by, parking right outside the door or the facility for me to bring my mobility scooter in and park it very close to my work area, the understanding that I may have to leave my work station regardless of what I'm in the middle of doing to get to the toilet urgently to avoid accidents, or that it may be possible I'll have an accident at work and need somewhere to be able to clean myself and change my pad/clothes straight away. The employer would also have to be accepting of the fact I can't provide any references as it's so long since I left my last job, my old manager has long retired and there's no senior staff in a position to give references who worked there when I did. |
| Anything else to tell us: These so-called reforms are absolutely terrifying and will literally kill people. For people like myself and my husband who are not far off retirement age, there's no realistic chance of us ever finding suitable jobs or an employer that would consider taking us on at our age and state of health, so all it will mean for us is that we'll live in extreme hardship, counting down the years till we can get our state pensions, presumably being constantly harassed by Universal Credit to find a job if we no longer have LCWRA/carer status which in our case will be impossible to find, all under threat of sanction for not being able to find one of these non-existent jobs, and a good chance that one or both of us won't live to state pension age due to not being able to afford the basic necessities like proper food and heating to avoid us becoming seriously ill and/or actually dying. |
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