[2024] UKUT 450 (AAC)

To put it shortly the Respondent’s submission is that an ‘aid’ cannot adapt a bath for the purposes of activity 4b. As observed by the Respondent there is no definition in the regulations of what ‘unadapted’ means. I can see the attraction in that submission given the task in question is whether a person needs an aid to get into and out of an ‘unadapted bath’. However, whether a specific aid, when employed, consequently modifies a bath or shower, thus adapting that standard bath is a question of fact. Some aids may adapt the bath, and some may not.

However, the fact that an aid has the result of adapting a bath is immaterial to the assessment of activity 4 descriptors. The starting point for descriptor task 4b is that the bath is unadapted, what then follows is the question whether the PIP claimant needs an aid to get into and out of that bath. If the claimant needs an aid to get into and out of the bath he is entitled to 2 points. The fact that the introduction of the aid, as a matter of fact, has the result of adapting the bath, is inconsequential for the purposes of assessing 4b in the light of the approach as set out at the beginning of this paragraph.

The descriptors for activity 4 are in ascending order of need. It is only necessary to consider whether a person requires supervision, prompting or assistance to get into and out of a bath, activity 4c and 4e respectively, if the claimant is unable to so with either an aid or appliance (4b). For reasons provided above, the starting position is the bath is unadapted and even if an individual requires an aid in conjunction with supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to carry out the descriptor tasks, the same staged process applies for the purposes of assessing 4c and 4e (see above).