PIP activities, descriptors and points

What “activities and descriptors” means

PIP is not awarded for a diagnosis. It is awarded based on how a condition affects a person’s ability to carry out a set of everyday activities. For each activity there is a list of statements called descriptors, each describing a level of difficulty and worth a number of points.

There are two groups of activities: ten for the daily living component and two for the mobility component. They are scored separately.

How scoring works

For each activity, the assessor picks the single descriptor that best matches how the person manages, on more than half of days. Only the highest applicable descriptor in each activity counts — you cannot combine two descriptors from the same activity. The points from all the activities in a component are then added together.

• 8 points in a component gives the standard rate.
• 12 points gives the enhanced rate.

The “reliably” test

A person is only treated as able to do an activity if they can do it reliably: safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and in no more than twice the time it would take someone without the condition. See PIP reliability rules.

See the full points tables

• PIP daily living points table — all ten activities and their points.
• PIP mobility points table — the two mobility activities.

Next steps

• Read about PIP daily living and PIP mobility.
• Find out about PIP evidence.
• Official source: GOV.UK — how your disability affects you.