PIP - dressing and undressing

Hi

If a person can’t put on trousers, even loose ones, because of an ankle/foot injury - because any material covering the site is too painful - would this score any points for dressing/undressing?  It’n not that he can’t physically put them on, it’s more that once they are on it’s too painful.

It’s the exact same with his shoe,

He always wears shorts and flip flops.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this please?

Thanks very much

6d for me at best. Can clearly do it himself so the question would be around reliability and whether said clothing was dressing to a suitable standard.

There is important guidance on this kind of area in PE v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP)
[2015] UKUT 309 (AAC), particularly paras 12-20. Basically a claimant should be assessed against a full range of clothing, not against a restricted range which they need to wear because of their disability. Shorts and flip-flops may be OK for the summer, or indoors, but not if you’re planning to go outside in the winter.

I don’t disagree with any of the above but I do think it’s worth noting that the activity is ‘dressing’ and ‘undressing’. The activity isn’t ‘wearing clothes’. So, having a limited wardrobe you can comfortably wear is not inherently going to result in a point award - it’s just to say that a limited view of the task of ‘dressing’ can’t be taken solely on that basis.

This is probably really just a case of where you would want to focus your arguments, as I would imagine that your client experiences pain and discomfort whilst putting on the socks and shoes et. which would be relevant to the assessment.

Thanks very much for all of this,
Very helpful, as always

Martin