Mobility Component - only outdoors?

The January version of the official PIP Assessment Guide hinted that Activity 12 might be relevant in relation to indoor mobility problems, which offered hope to those disabled people who need help to get to the toilet, as well as use the toilet, and so on.

The April 2013 version of the Guide has gone quite on this possibility (see page 109), and the new guidance has changed the wording in relation to Activity 12, which now simply says…

“...This activity should be judged in relation to a type of surface normally expected out of doors such as pavements on the flat and includes the consideration of kerbs.”

Accordingly, there is no longer any reference to 20 metres being relevant to needs “in the home”.

Does anyone have any further thoughts on this? At first glance, I can’t see the statutory authority for the insistence that Activity 12 is only helpful out of doors (unlike the wording of Activity 11 Descriptors, which strongly imply only out of doors).

Steve

Steve, I think it’s more how the gov has tried to spin the story than anything in the law. So, if you can’t manage 20m you’ll be at a disadvantage even within the home. If you can do between 20m and 50m, you won’t at a disadvantage within the home, but you’ll be at a disadvantage getting from the car park to the supermarket door.