Good morning!

I have recently made the switch from telephone advice to face to face, and have my first appointment to fill in a DLA application form for a lady who I believe may be entitled to high mob, mid care. Unfortunately she hasn't seen her doctor about her problem for 4-5 years, and the only people who know enough about her condition to provide any kind of supporting statements are not suitable for her to approach. I've asked her to make a diary and note down the problems she has and when etc, and I've measured the car park outside our building (25m) so if needs must I can ask her to demonstrate her walking - though obviously I'd rather avoid this if possible!

I know the criteria inside out as I was a telephone advisor for a good time, I'm just a little nervous about the actual form-filling bit as I'm not too familiar with them. I've got one and I've read through it, but can anyone offer any hints or tips? Other than doing it in pencil and not showing any fear!

One thing I learned.

The government have objective data for walking speeds. There are slight differences for men and women and people under and over 50. However, a good yardstick is that a person without disability walking at normal speed (environmental factors neutral,i.e. not walking into a 90mph headwind) will take about half a minute to walk 50 yards. So, I when I have got the walking distance set I ask my client whether he walks at normal pace, twice as slow, three times as slow, etc (or same pace as his wife, twice as slow –you get the picture). Once I get an answer I just then do the appropriate calculation. Thus 3 times as slow gets 0ne and a half minutes to walk 50 yards, approximately.

We have all winced when we have seen the claim form in the appeal papers where clients have stated that it takes 10 minutes to walk, say, 30 yards. Some tribunal chairs I know will call the client to count for this sort of thing; others won’t, although we can’t be certain how much it informs the tribunal’s decision as to the client’s credibility.

Judging time taken to do something can often be a problem and like nevip I have known appeal judges that have looked closely at statements that show unbelievably slow walking speeds. I sometimes use the length of single (showing my age here!) playing on the radio as guide, they are usually three to three and a half minutes long so I use that as a rough and ready guide; how far would they get by the time the single had finished - I'm sure you get the idea. It seems to work well with any question about 'time taken'.

Measuring distance is more complicated and claimants are often wildly out when they estimate them. I am lucky to have access to large scale Ordnance Survey maps from the Council's Intranet so I just print one off and ask the claimant to indicate where they get to before they have to stop. I've used these in appeals as well, in one case the DWP said they had observed the appellant walk from the Jobcentre door to the car park , a distance of 250 metres.We used one of these maps to demonstrate (to the complete satisfaction of the Tribunal) that the distance was only in fact 34 metres!

If you cannot do something like this then a good guide is that for someone of average height and with a normal gait walking on level ground sixty -five double paces is about 100metres. This can be very accurate, it's how mountaineers and hill walkers find out how far they have gone when in thick fog or falling snow and they can't see more than a few feet in any direction

Did you know that there is actually a Commissioner's Decision on how far it is from Sutton station to Copthall House (the regional tribunal centre)?

I always used to take the view that any estimate of time and distance for distances of less than about half a mile were sheer guesses and could safely be ignored. Strangely, most people (without disabilities) are much better at estimating longer distances and the time it takes to walk them. They know, for example, that it's about a mile from their home to the station and takes them about 20 minutes to walk. But lots of people would have no idea how far a much shorter distance - to the bus stop, say - is or how long it would take them to walk it.

I walk at almost exactly 100m a minute and that is 120 paces (2 per second). I have paced out lots of useful distances around Basingstoke using this including how far it is from the lift to the front door of the Bureau. I recommend this. I also recommend training advisers to be able to estimate time and distance reasonably accurately.

For what it's worth... we have a measured distance outside outside our interview room window so people can gain some idea. They don't walk it - just look at it.

DLA form filling tips (in no particular order):

- It is in fact very useful to watch your client walk (see the 'mobility component' section in the Disability Rights Handbook which describes a walking test that you can do with your client. Objective walking assessments are much more believable than the (sometimes wild) guestimates that find their way onto some forms;

- approach the form one question a time. This makes is much less daunting and more manageable;

- for those with mental health or similiar problems, add the words 'prompting' 'reminding', 'encouraging', and 'supervising' to each question;

- don't rush. Do it in more than one session if necessary;

- establish a good rapport with the client and gain thier trust - you might be asking some very personal questions and if you want the truth this is important;

- Similiarly, take account of any cultural differences between you and the client (sex, race, age, race, religion, etc, etc) in your interview technique (For example, if you are a young man discussing toiletting needs with an older muslim woman, understanding these issues could make a signficant difference in the qualify of information you can elicit from your client).

- Understand that DM's will not make even the most obvious assumptions - spell it out for them;

- Focus on the help required, not the diagnosis and treatment;

- understand the 'reasonableness' aspect of the help required;

- Finally, my advice to client's filling in thier own form is that the ultimate goal is to enable a DM to see, in their minds eye, exactly what difficulties the disabled person has and how the help required will improve thier quality of life or ease the level of disablement.

Just to follow up on two of Tony's points:

- for those with mental health or similiar problems, add the words 'prompting' 'reminding', 'encouraging', and 'supervising' to each question;

- establish a good rapport with the client and gain thier trust - you might be asking some very personal questions and if you want the truth this is important

When I used to complete lots of DLA forms for people with psychiatric issues, it was often necessary to push a little to persuade clients to reveal their true thoughts and feelings, because they were afraid that if these things got back to the psychiatrist, then their treatment might be changed, or they might be sectioned. Thus, it was necessary to assure them about the confidentiality of the information they provided, and that, at most, the DWP would write requesting further information from health care professionals but wouldn't actually reveal what the client had entered on their claim form.

This could often lead to client's divulging information that they had never really talked about before, which could mean some quite difficult or highly emotional moments for them, when they revealed what their actual situation was like. So being aware that this can be quite a testing experience for someone, and being prepared for that yourself as an advisor (and not a counsellor) is a good idea. Good luck with it all.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to help out with this, it's very much appreciated!