PIP (Personal Independence Payment): Rates, Points, Claiming

You can get PIP if all of the following apply to you:

• ✓Yes: You're 16 or over, and usually under State Pension age when you make a new claim
• ✓Yes: You have a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability
• ✓Yes: You have difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around
• ✓Yes: The difficulties have lasted at least 3 months and you expect them to last at least 9 more months
• ✓Yes: You live in England or Wales when you apply, and usually have lived in England, Scotland or Wales for at least 2 of the last 3 years

If you are over State Pension age you cannot usually make a new claim for PIP, and you can apply for Attendance Allowance instead. You can make a new claim if you got PIP or Adult Disability Payment in the last 12 months.

There are different eligibility rules if you are nearing the end of life, for example because of a life-limiting illness. You might be able to get PIP more quickly and at a higher rate.

If you get Adult Disability Payment and move from Scotland to England or Wales, you must tell Social Security Scotland and make a new claim for PIP. If you get PIP and move from England or Wales to Scotland, you must tell DWP and make a new claim for Adult Disability Payment, and your PIP will stop 13 weeks after you move.

You keep getting Disability Living Allowance if you are under 16 or were born on or before 8 April 1948. If you were born after 8 April 1948, DWP will invite you to apply for PIP. Our DLA to PIP guide covers the move.

There are 2 parts to PIP, a daily living part and a mobility part. Whether you get one or both parts and how much you get depends on how difficult you find everyday tasks and getting around.

The Daily Living component is scored on 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.

The Mobility component is scored on 2 activities: planning and following journeys, and moving around.

Each part has a standard rate and an enhanced rate. PIP is usually paid every 4 weeks, and your decision letter tells you the date of your first payment and what day of the week you will usually be paid.

You can receive both parts, which gives a maximum of £194.60 per week (£778.40 every 4 weeks) with both at the enhanced rate. Our PIP rates for 2026/27 page also shows monthly averages and yearly totals.

PIP is tax free, and the amount you get is not affected by your income or savings. You can get it if you are working or have savings.

You can get PIP at the same time as all other benefits, except Armed Forces Independence Payment. If you get Constant Attendance Allowance you will get less of the daily living part of PIP, and if you get War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement you will not get the mobility part of PIP.

Each part of PIP is scored separately: at least 8 points in a part gives the standard rate, and at least 12 points gives the enhanced rate. For each activity one descriptor applies, and the descriptor sets the points.

• ✓Yes: A difficulty counts if it applies on more than half of your days
• ✓Yes: The law only counts you as able to do an activity if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time
• ✓Yes: If you cannot reliably complete an activity in the way described in a descriptor, the DWP guide says you should be considered unable to complete it at that level and an alternative descriptor selected

See every descriptor and its points in our PIP descriptors guide, add up your own score with the PIP points calculator, and read why the reliability test matters.

If more information is needed, you might be invited to an assessment with a health professional from an assessment provider. It is not a medical to diagnose your condition: the DWP guide says the assessment focuses on the effects of your health condition or impairment.

You can challenge a decision about your PIP claim. Before you can appeal to the tribunal, you usually need to ask for mandatory reconsideration.

• ✓Yes: You choose whether to go to the hearing; if you do not attend, your appeal is decided on your appeal form and the evidence you provide
• ✓Yes: You can appoint someone as a representative to help you with your appeal
• ✓Yes: For initial PIP decisions made between April 2021 and March 2026, 17% of appeals lodged lapsed because DWP changed the decision in the claimant's favour before the hearing

Yes, PIP is for a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability. GOV.UK says you do not have to have a physical disability to get the mobility part, and psychiatric disorder is the most commonly recorded disabling condition on PIP claims (39% of claims in DWP's statistics to July 2026). The DWP guide says the assessment considers the overall impact of a health condition or impairment on your functional ability, rather than focusing on a particular diagnosis.

Examples from Schedule 1 to the PIP Regulations 2013 and the DWP assessment guide:

• ✓Yes: Engaging with other people face to face: the DWP guide says this activity is designed for limitations on social engagement deriving from mental health, cognitive and learning impairments
• ✓Yes: Planning and following journeys: the DWP guide says this activity is designed for limitations on mobility deriving from mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments
• ✓Yes: Making budgeting decisions: you score 2 points if you need prompting or assistance to be able to make complex budgeting decisions
• ✓Yes: Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition: you score 1 point if you need supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage medication or to monitor a health condition

You can get PIP for ADHD if it causes you difficulty with everyday tasks or getting around, because PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself. Whether any of this scores points depends on the descriptors for each activity, which are set out in Schedule 1 to the PIP Regulations 2013.

See our full PIP for ADHD guide for the activities that can score points and the evidence to send.

GOV.UK says you might be eligible for the mobility part if you have difficulty getting around because of a cognitive or mental health condition, like anxiety. As with any condition, PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself.

• ✓Yes: Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause you overwhelming psychological distress: 10 points in planning and following journeys
• ✓Yes: Needs prompting to be able to engage with other people: 2 points; needs social support to be able to engage with other people: 4 points
• ✓Yes: Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make complex budgeting decisions: 2 points

Our guides cover PIP for anxiety and PIP for depression.

PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself, so what matters for fibromyalgia is how your symptoms affect the 12 activities. If your symptoms vary, a difficulty counts if it applies on more than half of your days. The PIP2 form asks how often you have good days and bad days, and how or why your condition varies over the course of a day, week or year.

See PIP for fibromyalgia and fluctuating conditions and the 50% rule.

You can get PIP for autism if it causes you difficulty with everyday tasks or getting around, because PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself. The PIP2 booklet says to send information about how your health condition or disability affects your daily life, and documents you already have available.

See our PIP for autism guide.

Getting PIP can open the door to other help. GOV.UK lists:

• ✓Yes: If someone helps to care for you, they may be able to get Carer's Allowance, which needs the person cared for to get the PIP daily living part
• ✓Yes: The mobility part can make you eligible for a Blue Badge and a vehicle tax discount or exemption, and the higher mobility rate for a Motability Scheme vehicle
• ✓Yes: Either part makes you eligible for a Disabled Persons Railcard
• ✓Yes: You may get a top-up called a disability premium if you get income-related ESA or Housing Benefit
• ✓Yes: You may be able to get a discount on Council Tax and local bus travel: contact your local council to check
• ✓Yes: You'll continue getting PIP if you claim Universal Credit

Browse all of our benefits guides.