Personal Independence Payment

Personal Independence Payment is not means-tested and not income-linked. It's scored against two activity tables — Daily Living and Mobility — each with its own descriptors. DWP awards points for each activity based on how that activity is affected by your health condition, and the total points determines whether you get the standard or enhanced rate of each component.

The two components

PIP has a Daily Living component and a Mobility component. They are scored and awarded separately — you can get enhanced Daily Living and no Mobility, standard Mobility and no Daily Living, or any other combination. Each component has a standard rate and an enhanced rate.

How points become a rate

Within each component, the rule is: 0-7 points = no award; 8-11 points = standard rate; 12 or more points = enhanced rate. Points are totted up across all the activities in that component — you cannot double-count by scoring two descriptors under the same activity. DWP selects the highest-scoring descriptor that accurately describes your functional ability for each activity.

The activities

Daily Living has 10 activities: preparing food; taking nutrition; managing therapy or monitoring a health condition; washing and bathing; managing toilet needs or incontinence; dressing and undressing; communicating verbally; reading and understanding signs, symbols and words; engaging with other people face-to-face; and making budgeting decisions. Mobility has two: planning and following journeys; and moving around.

The reliability test

This is the single most important rule in PIP scoring and the one most often missed by claimants filling in the PIP2 form themselves. An activity only counts as something you can do if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and in a reasonable time. Failing any one of those four criteria means you cannot do the activity reliably. If washing takes three times as long as it should because of fatigue, you fail "reasonable time" — even if you technically complete the task. If you can make a meal today but couldn't do it reliably on most days, you fail "repeatedly". Emphasise reliability throughout the PIP2 form.

What "with aids or appliances" means

Several descriptors are scored based on whether you need aids or prompting. If you can prepare a simple meal but only using a perching stool, that's "needs to use an aid or appliance" — worth 2 points under preparing food. If you can wash but only with the use of a bath lift, that's similarly scored. Aids can include prompting from another person. The scoring is the same whether you actually own the aid or just need it and don't have it.

How long an award lasts

Awards are time-limited, typically 2-3 years for fluctuating conditions, up to 10 years for more stable conditions, and indefinite (reviewed only at light-touch intervals) if you've reached State Pension age or your condition is unlikely to improve. Your award letter will tell you when DWP next reviews the claim. You receive a renewal pack 14 weeks before the award ends.

For the detailed application process, see How to apply for PIP. For the mandatory reconsideration / tribunal path after a refusal, see Challenging a benefits decision.

Saying "I can, but..." on the PIP2 form

A common habit — out of fairness, or minimisation, or politeness — is to answer each activity with something like "I can cook a meal, but it takes me a long time." This hands DWP the answer "yes, she can cook" and loses the points. The correct framing is: "I cannot reliably prepare a simple meal, because fatigue means it takes me three hours and I usually don't manage to do it more than twice a week." Lead with the limitation, not the capability.

Not describing a bad day

DWP assesses the condition as it affects you on the majority of days. For fluctuating conditions, people tend to describe the best-case day ("I can usually manage to walk to the shop") when the majority of days are worse. You should describe how things are on the worse days — the days you would describe as typical, not the days you would describe as a good outcome.

Assuming a diagnosis is enough

PIP is not awarded for a diagnosis. It's awarded for the functional impact of a condition. A fibromyalgia diagnosis on its own tells the decision-maker nothing about what you can and can't do. For every descriptor, the PIP2 form needs a functional description: what the impact is, how often, and what happens when you try.

Missing the reliability test on mobility

The Mobility component has two activities: planning and following journeys, and moving around. For "moving around", the question is how far you can walk reliably, safely, repeatedly, and in a reasonable time. If you can walk 200m on a good day but typically only 50m before needing to stop because of pain or breathlessness, your reliable distance is under 50m — score 12 points, enhanced rate. Walking 50m on a good day does not count if you can't do it reliably.

Not appealing

Around 70% of PIP cases that reach an independent tribunal succeed when the claimant attends the hearing in person. Many claimants are refused, don't ask for a mandatory reconsideration, and never appeal. If you've been refused or awarded less than you expected, the first step is to ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration within a month. If that doesn't overturn the decision, appeal to tribunal — help is available from Citizens Advice and local welfare-rights services.