Every PIP descriptor, explained
Twelve activities. Around sixty descriptors. One score for each activity, and the highest applicable descriptor is the only one that counts. Here is the whole system, laid out.
On this page
How the points system works
Each of the twelve activities has a set of descriptors — statements describing increasing levels of difficulty, each with a point value attached. You are scored on exactly one descriptor per activity.
Highest applies, never both
If two descriptors arguably apply to the same activity, only the higher-scoring one counts. They do not add together. This is why describing yourself vaguely can cost you points.
Points do add across activities
Your Daily Living total is the sum of your highest descriptor from each of the ten Daily Living activities. Mobility is the sum of the two Mobility activities, scored entirely separately.
Components never combine
A strong Mobility score does nothing for Daily Living. You can receive one component, both, or neither. Each has its own 8-point and 12-point thresholds.
| Points | Result | Weekly rate 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|
| 0–7 | No award for that component | — |
| 8–11 | Standard rate | £76.70 Daily Living / £30.30 Mobility |
| 12 or more | Enhanced rate | £114.60 Daily Living / £80.00 Mobility |
About the four-point rule. A proposal would have required new claimants to score at least 4 points in a single Daily Living activity, on top of the 8-point total. It was removed from the legislation on 1 July 2025 and has not been enacted. Points still add across activities exactly as shown here. Any future change would follow the Timms Review, due to report in autumn 2026.
Daily Living — all ten activities
These ten activities produce your Daily Living score. Each row shows the descriptor and its point value. Evidence tips follow each activity.
- (a) Can prepare and cook a simple meal unaided0
- (b) Needs an aid or appliance to prepare or cook a simple meal2
- (c) Cannot use a conventional cooker but can use a microwave2
- (d) Needs prompting to prepare or cook a simple meal2
- (e) Needs supervision or assistance to prepare or cook a simple meal4
- (f) Cannot prepare and cook food at all8
Evidence that helps: occupational therapy kitchen assessment, GP letter on cognitive difficulties, evidence of burns or accidents, perching stool or adapted equipment provided.
- (a) Can take nutrition unaided0
- (b) Needs an aid, supervision or assistance to cut up food2
- (c) Needs a therapeutic source to take nutrition2
- (d) Needs prompting to take nutrition4
- (e) Needs assistance to manage a therapeutic source6
- (f) Cannot convey food or drink to the mouth and needs another person to do so10
Evidence that helps: dietitian letters, speech and language therapy reports on swallowing, OT reports, mental health evidence where low mood affects eating.
- (a) Does not receive medication or therapy, or can manage it unaided0
- (b) Needs an aid or appliance to manage medication1
- (c) Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to manage medication or monitor a condition1
- (d) Needs support to manage therapy taking no more than 3.5 hours a week2
- (e) Needs support to manage therapy taking more than 3.5 but no more than 7 hours a week4
- (f) Needs support to manage therapy taking more than 7 but no more than 14 hours a week6
- (g) Needs support to manage therapy taking more than 14 hours a week8
Evidence that helps: a dosette box or pill organiser in use, pharmacy records showing missed or irregular collection, a therapy schedule showing hours per week, and evidence of cognitive side effects affecting adherence.
- (a) Can wash and bathe unaided0
- (b) Needs an aid or appliance to wash or bathe2
- (c) Needs supervision or prompting to wash or bathe2
- (d) Needs assistance to wash either hair or body below the waist2
- (e) Needs assistance to get in or out of a bath or shower3
- (f) Needs assistance to wash body between shoulders and waist4
- (g) Cannot wash or bathe at all8
Evidence that helps: OT bathroom assessment, grab rails or shower seat provided, photographs of adaptations, evidence of falls or near-misses in the bathroom.
- (a) Can manage toilet needs or incontinence unaided0
- (b) Needs an aid or appliance to manage toilet needs or incontinence2
- (c) Needs supervision or prompting to manage toilet needs2
- (d) Needs assistance to manage toilet needs4
- (e) Needs assistance to manage incontinence of bladder or bowel6
- (f) Needs assistance to manage incontinence of both bladder and bowel8
Evidence that helps: continence nurse or urology letters, evidence of pads or catheter supplies, raised toilet seat or rails. This activity is frequently under-reported because people find it embarrassing to discuss — it is worth raising even so.
- (a) Can dress and undress unaided0
- (b) Needs an aid or appliance to dress or undress2
- (c) Needs prompting to dress or undress, or to select appropriate clothing2
- (d) Needs assistance to dress or undress the lower body2
- (e) Needs assistance to dress or undress the upper body4
- (f) Cannot dress or undress at all8
Evidence that helps: OT report on dressing difficulties, physiotherapy records showing restricted range of movement, evidence of adapted clothing such as pull-on garments or Velcro fastenings. Note the very common argument that dressing takes twice as long as it should, which engages the "reasonable time" limb of the reliability test.
- (a) Can express and understand verbal information unaided0
- (b) Needs an aid or appliance to speak or hear2
- (c) Needs communication support for complex verbal information4
- (d) Needs communication support for basic verbal information8
- (e) Cannot express or understand verbal information at all, even with support12
Evidence that helps: speech and language therapy reports, audiology assessments, mental health reports. The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that difficulties with tone, implied meaning and sarcasm — common in autism — are relevant to this activity.
- (a) Can read and understand basic and complex written information unaided, or with glasses or contact lenses0
- (b) Needs an aid or appliance other than glasses to read or understand written information2
- (c) Needs prompting to read or understand complex written information2
- (d) Needs prompting to read or understand basic written information4
- (e) Cannot read or understand signs, symbols or words at all8
Evidence that helps: educational psychologist or neuropsychologist reports, learning disability assessments, visual impairment specialist reports. Covers literacy, cognitive difficulties and sensory overload from dense text.
- (a) Can engage with other people unaided0
- (b) Needs prompting to engage with other people2
- (c) Needs social support to engage with other people4
- (d) Cannot engage with other people due to overwhelming psychological distress, or behaviour causing substantial risk of harm8
Evidence that helps: community mental health team notes, psychiatrist or psychologist reports, a statement from the person who accompanies you. "Social support" has a specific legal meaning — support from someone trained or experienced in helping in social situations — and the Upper Tribunal has confirmed that anxiety arising from a mental health condition can score here. Being able to hold down a job does not, by itself, prove you can engage socially.
- (a) Can manage complex budgeting decisions unaided0
- (b) Needs prompting or assistance to make complex budgeting decisions2
- (c) Needs prompting or assistance to make simple budgeting decisions4
- (d) Cannot make any budgeting decisions at all6
Evidence that helps: DWP appointee evidence, bank statements showing unmanaged spending or missed payments, a capacity assessment, or evidence that someone else handles your bills.
Mobility — both activities
Only two activities, but each worth up to 12 points. A single one can carry you to the enhanced rate on its own.
- (a) Can plan and follow the route of a journey unaided0
- (b) Needs prompting to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress4
- (c) Cannot plan the route of a journey8
- (d) Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid10
- (e) Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress10
- (f) Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid12
Evidence that helps: GP or psychiatrist letters on agoraphobia, anxiety or cognitive impairment; evidence you only leave home accompanied; an explanation of why you hold a bus pass but do not use it. This is the activity mental health claimants most often miss — many assume Mobility is only about physical walking, and forfeit up to £80 a week. The threshold is that the distress must be overwhelming; ordinary worry or nervousness does not reach it.
- (a) Can stand and then move more than 200 metres, aided or unaided0
- (b) Can stand and then move more than 50 metres but no more than 200 metres4
- (c) Can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres8
- (d) Can stand and then move using an aid or appliance more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres10
- (e) Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres12
- (f) Cannot stand, or cannot move more than 1 metre12
Evidence that helps: physiotherapy assessment of walking distance, a timed walking test, description of rest breaks and how long they need to last. Vague answers lose here. "I can't walk far" scores nothing; "I can walk about 20 metres before the pain forces me to stop, and then I need five minutes sitting down before I can go again" is specific enough to be scored. The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that rest time before starting to walk can count towards the "reasonable time" assessment.
The reliability test in practice
This is Regulation 4(2A) of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, and it is the most powerful tool available to a claimant who is being told they can do something.
| The test | What it means | How to argue it |
|---|---|---|
| Safely | You must be able to do it without real risk of harm to yourself or others, during or afterwards. | "I can reach the hob, but I have burned myself twice this year because I lose grip on pans." |
| To an acceptable standard | Not merely possible — done properly. The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that pain is relevant here. | "I get dressed, but I regularly put clothes on inside out and cannot tell." |
| Repeatedly | As often as you would reasonably need to, across a day. | "I can walk to the corner once. Then I need to lie down for two hours, so I cannot do the return trip." |
| In a reasonable time | No more than roughly twice as long as someone without your condition. | "Washing and dressing takes me over an hour every morning. Most people manage it in fifteen minutes." |
Fail any one of the four and you should be treated as unable to do the activity at that level, which means moving up to the next descriptor. In written evidence and at a hearing, address all four explicitly rather than relying on the decision-maker to infer them.
Fluctuating conditions and the 50% rule
If your condition varies, the question is not how you are on your best day or your worst. It is how you are on more than half of days over a twelve-month period.
In practice this means describing the range honestly: how many days a week are bad, what a bad day looks like, and what you can still manage on a better day. A diary kept over two to four weeks is far more persuasive than a general description, because it shows the pattern rather than asserting it.
An important nuance. If no single descriptor applies on more than half of days, but two descriptors together cover more than half, the assessor should select the one that applies most frequently. Where the pattern genuinely fluctuates between two levels, it is worth setting out both and explaining the proportion of days each describes.
Work out your own score
- Go through each activity in turnPick the descriptor that matches you on most days. Ignore diagnosis entirely — focus on what you actually cannot do.
- Apply the reliability testFor each activity, ask the four questions. If you fail any of them, move up a descriptor.
- Write down the reasonFor every descriptor you select, note a specific example. "Last Tuesday I could not..." is worth more than any general statement.
- Add the two components separatelyTen Daily Living activities, then two Mobility activities. Do not combine them.
- Check against the thresholds8 for standard, 12 for enhanced, applied to each component independently.
Want the maths done for you?
The calculator walks through all twelve activities with the exact descriptor wording, and shows your points, your rate, and how far you are from the next threshold.
Open the PIP points calculatorWhat is changing, and what is not
Not happening
The four-point rule — requiring 4 points in a single Daily Living activity — was removed from the legislation on 1 July 2025. It has not been enacted and has no confirmed commencement date.
The descriptors themselves have been unchanged since 2013 and remain the same legal tests.
Under review
The Timms Review is examining whether the assessment criteria are fair and fit for purpose, including how they capture mental health, fluctuating conditions and hidden difficulties. It began work in February 2026 and reports in autumn 2026.
No eligibility changes are expected before that report. Any change would require new legislation.
Does your score not match what the DWP decided?
That gap is your appeal. We review decision letters, assessor reports and evidence at a fixed fee and tell you whether there are grounds.
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