PIP/SADP Preparing food.

Wobblyjoe

Can you prepare and cook a simple meal. :Hi everyone. I'm unsure as to answer yes or no to this question. I cannot prepare a meal due to pain and fatigue, tremor, balance problems. Cannot stand for any length of time. Difficulty bending, cannot handle hot pans or transfer hot food to plates etc safely due to balance,tremor,pain & fatigue.. I drop things and have falls on a regular basis. I also very forgetful due to brain fog so would forget I'd left things on etc. Unable to peel or chop veg etc due to tremor and stiff hands. I can however use a microwave. As I am unable to so I do no actual preparation and cooking in my house I also have no idea how to answer these sections.

Do you need someone to remind or encourage you to cook food? : As I am unable to cook apart from microwave I have no idea how to answer.

How often do you need someone to remind or encourage you to prepare and cook food: Again as I can't prepare food or cook no idea how to answer.

Do you need someone with you to keep you safe when you prepare and cook food? Well, yes I would but as again as above I can't cook or prepare food. No idea how to answer.
 
How often do you need someone with you to keep you safe when you prepare and cook food? :Again no idea how to answer as above.

Do you need to use anything to help you prepare and cook food? :Again no idea how to answer as above.

How often do you need to use this? :Again no idea how to answer as above. Although I do use a bottle and jar opener and a gizmo for cutting into packaging, plastic etc.

Any help or replies are greatly appreciated, thank you.

Auti

I would say no then say what you said about why you cannot prepare food or cook using a cooker. You will need someone to help you when you eat as taking food from the microwave and plating would also be difficult re tremors etc.  it does not matter if you do not have someone but if it would make you safer and less likely to burn yourself when removing things from microwave etc that is what matters and that is what you put. So maybe say that you can put cold items from fridge in their container into a microwave and turn it on but removing hot item is difficult as container is not rigid, is hot, tremors can cause burns and can drop container etc etc. I have no idea what if any I have mentioned is your difficulty but this is the lines I would go on. Sorry. I am autistic so this may be muddled but no disrespect meant.

Spoonie_Turtle

This answer is from a PIP point of view, I know nothing about the Scottish ADP: 

For the 'no idea how to answer' ones, maybe think as if you absolutely had to be trying to cook, and then what help you would need.  Also make it clear whether it would allow you to do so to an acceptable level, safely, in no longer than it would take a nondisabled person, and every day.
*For PIP bending down is not considered, because cooking means preparing a simple meal for one from fresh ingredients, cooked on the hob or in the microwave.  It ignores the oven.

For the basic yes or no question, the reasons you give may be challenged with aids, supervision, or assistance.  So you'd have to go through each reason and work out whether that problem could be solved by an appropriate aid, or someone reminding you, etc.  You would also need to tell them the effect of trying to cook, if it exacerbates the pain or fatigue (e.g. if every single problem could be mitigated by an aid or someone to help, but you'd still be too exhausted or in pain afterwards to eat it, that's not to an acceptable level for PIP).

Wobblyjoe

Thanks for the reply Auti it's appreciated. This section is very contradictory.

It states. Can you prepare and cook a simple meal.

Yes: I can sometimes or always prepare a meal by myself or with help.

No: I cannot prepare and cook a meal by myself and always need someone to do this for me.

If no fill in the box below then skip to page 39.

This then means it misses out all the questions above. However I can use a microwave under supervision so I'm assuming they class using a microwave as preparing and cooking a simple meal. To me however using a microwave does not constitute preparing food.

born_again

Can you prepare and cook a simple meal.
I cannot prepare a meal due to pain and fatigue, tremor, balance problems.

Do you need someone to remind or encourage you to cook food? 
I also very forgetful due to brain fog so would forget, not that you could cook anyway.

How often do you need someone to remind or encourage you to prepare and cook food:
As above

Do you need someone with you to keep you safe when you prepare and cook food?
As above

How often do you need someone with you to keep you safe when you prepare and cook food?
As above

Do you need to use anything to help you prepare and cook food? 
I cannot prepare a meal due to pain and fatigue, tremor, balance problems.

How often do you need to use this?
I cannot prepare a meal due to pain and fatigue, tremor, balance problems.


This is the basis I used for the Mrs with MS, As like you trying to cook anything is a serious danger to herself, & any others around her.

Wobblyjoe

Thanks born_again for the reply. I'll leave the link here for the SADP form. Hopefully that should show the problems I'm having. Its page 33 onwards. Adult Disability Payment (socialsecurity.gov.scot)

Alice_Holt

This like Spoonie's answer is from the perspective of PIP.

PIP looks at whether you can do the activity reliably on the majority of days.

"Reliably being

• Safely
• In a reasonable time
• To a reasonable standard
• As often as is needed

So, if you can show that you can cook but it isn’t safe for you to do so because your concentration is so poor that you forget what you are doing, then you may score points.

Or if you can show that you can cook a meal, but it would take you twice as long as someone without an impairment because of pain and fatigue then you will score points.

The decision maker may say that you can cook if you use aids and appliances such as a kettle tipper and so only award you two points. But if you can show that you would still have problems even if you use aids and appliances, then you may score up to 8 points for this one activity, enough for an award of PIP."

The important thing when completing a disability form is to give the decision maker a complete picture of the difficulties you would encounter when attempting the activity. 
In order to do that I'd put an expanded version of your initial explanation on the form.
I'd suggest typing up sheets covering each relevant activity and fully detail how and why you experience difficulties, give recent examples - then attach those sheets to your form.
On the form you could then write against these questions - see attached sheets.

Don't get too hung up trying to answer these individual questions  (in any case often space on the form is insufficient), rather use them as a prompt to ensure that your write up covers all these points and that the person reading the form can then easily & fully understand all the difficulties you have.

Having typed sheets means it's legible, you can easily edit and amend it, you can ensure a consistent picture, you have a copy for your records, etc.
Put your name & NI number on each sheet, and attach securely to the form.

Spoonie_Turtle

Wobblyjoe said:

Thanks born_again for the reply. I'll leave the link here for the SADP form. Hopefully that should show the problems I'm having. Its page 33 onwards. Adult Disability Payment (socialsecurity.gov.scot)

Ah, that's very helpful!

Looking at the form, I don't see it as being contradictory.  If you can't cook, it asks you why, then go to the next question.  If you can't cook at all, filling in that box is your chance to explain why even help (aids or someone else) doesn't enable you to cook.  Having the other questions is actually quite helpful as a prompt for what kinds of things to think about and explain why they still don't enable you to cook.

[I rather like that the Yes option is very clearly for sometimes and/or with help, it will not automatically be interpreted as 'yes I can always cook by myself, no problem' which the PIP form feels like.]

Wobblyjoe said:

However I can use a microwave under supervision so I'm assuming they class using a microwave as preparing and cooking a simple meal. To me however using a microwave does not constitute preparing food.

What counts is what they actually assess, and for PIP a microwave is explicitly counted, as one of the descriptors.  It being specifically referenced on the SADP form too indicates they class that as being able to cook, to an extent.

Wobblyjoe

Thanks Alice. Wobblyjoe said:Wobblyjoe said:

Thanks for the reply Auti it's appreciated. This section is very contradictory.

It states. Can you prepare and cook a simple meal.

Yes: I can sometimes or always prepare a meal by myself or with help.

No: I cannot prepare and cook a meal by myself and always need someone to do this for me.

If no fill in the box below then skip to page 39.

This then means it misses out all the questions above. However I can use a microwave under supervision so I'm assuming they class using a microwave as preparing and cooking a simple meal. To me however using a microwave does not constitute preparing food.

The problem is if I answer no to preparing and cooking a simple meal it then tells me to skip to page 39 which then misses the section about the microwave. It seems as if they are including using a microwave as preparing and cooking a meal. If I say yes as I can use a microwave I then need to fill out the rest of the relevant sections between pages 33-38 and have no clue how to answer them. You will only see my problem if you look at the link above. I'm sorry if I'm struggling to get my point across. 

poppy12345

If ADP is anything like PIP then carry things around the kitchen is not taken into consideration. Serving food on a plate is.

Wobblyjoe said:

Thanks Alice. Wobblyjoe said:Wobblyjoe said:

Thanks for the reply Auti it's appreciated. This section is very contradictory.

It states. Can you prepare and cook a simple meal.

Yes: I can sometimes or always prepare a meal by myself or with help.

No: I cannot prepare and cook a meal by myself and always need someone to do this for me.

If no fill in the box below then skip to page 39.

This then means it misses out all the questions above. However I can use a microwave under supervision so I'm assuming they class using a microwave as preparing and cooking a simple meal. To me however using a microwave does not constitute preparing food.

The problem is if I answer no to preparing and cooking a simple meal it then tells me to skip to page 39 which then misses the section about the microwave. It seems as if they are including using a microwave as preparing and cooking a meal. If I say yes as I can use a microwave I then need to fill out the rest of the relevant sections between pages 33-38 and have no clue how to answer them. You will only see my problem if you look at the link above. I'm sorry if I'm struggling to get my point across. 

A meal can be prepared by using a microwave in the same way it can be using a hob. You would still need to prepare that food to go into the microwave.

Spoonie_Turtle

Have you looked into the help offered to complete it? 

"If you need help
We have advisors across Scotland who can provide face to face support to help you complete your application. Call us free on 0800 182 2222 to find out more about how we can help you with your Adult Disability Payment application."

Some of us here can advise based on our interpretation of the form and knowledge/experience of PIP but that's not the same as advice from people who are (or should be) familiar with ADP specifically.


Edit: for those curious (as I am) here is the guidance for decision makers https://www.socialsecurity.gov.scot/guidance-resources/guidance/decision-making-guide
(I may not get chance to read for a while though.)