PIP medical evidence should show how your condition affects your daily life. PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself, and DWP asks for supporting evidence that shows how you carry out activities and how your health condition or disability affects them. This guide covers who can give evidence, what to send and leave out, and the date it should relate to.
Key points
✓DWP's PIP2 booklet says PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself.
✓On an appeal, the tribunal must not take into account circumstances that did not exist when the decision appealed against was made.
✓DWP's assessment guide says that in complex conditions a GP's knowledge and involvement may be limited and specialist practitioners may be better placed to give useful evidence.
✓DWP asks for photocopies because it cannot return documents, with your full name and reference number at the top of each one.
✓At mandatory reconsideration, only include evidence you have not already sent.
Show function, not just diagnosis
Being able to complete an activity is not sufficient evidence of ability, according to DWP's assessment guide. Assessors must also consider approach, outcome, impact and variability, including symptoms such as pain, discomfort, breathlessness, fatigue and anxiety.
For each difficulty with an activity, the PIP2 booklet asks you to say:
What the difficulty is, and why you have it or how it relates to your condition
How often you have it, telling DWP about both good and bad days
How or why your condition varies over the course of a day, week or year
When you started to have difficulties
The aids or specialist equipment you use, and the help you get from someone else
The help you need but do not get
A descriptor applies only if you can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period, and it applies where it is satisfied on over 50% of the days of the required period. The reliability test guide sets out each part.
Match the evidence to the PIP descriptors. DWP's assessment guide gives seizures as an example: descriptor 1e might apply where there is strong evidence that the altered consciousness is unpredictable and that the claimant would not reliably be able to use a microwave.
Make it relate to the right date
If you appeal, the tribunal must not take into account any circumstances not obtaining at the time when the decision appealed against was made. For the original assessment, DWP's guide says the descriptor choice should be based on a 12 month period, broadly the 3 months before the assessment and the 9 months after.
Who to ask
The PIP2 booklet names these as examples of professionals to tell DWP about:
A GP, hospital doctor or specialist nurse
A community psychiatric nurse, occupational therapist or physiotherapist
A social worker, counsellor or support worker
The booklet asks you to list the health professionals who treat or care for you most regularly and who are best placed to advise on how your condition affects you, up to 3 in all. For complex conditions, the assessment guide says the knowledge and involvement of the GP may be limited, with specialist practitioners potentially better placed in some cases to provide useful evidence.
DWP asks you to send supporting evidence with your form, but sometimes may contact the health professionals who support you for further information, and its assessors should ensure there is your consent before they do. When an assessment provider asks a GP for a factual report, the provider pays for it and DWP reimburses the fee.
What to send with your claim
GOV.UK says to include supporting documents if you have them, for example prescription lists, care plans, or information from your doctor or others involved in your care. The PIP2 booklet adds that you should send information about how your health condition or disability affects your daily life and documents you already have available to you.
The booklet lists these as examples of what you could send:
Reports or care or treatment plans from occupational therapists, GPs or consultants, social workers, community psychiatric nurses, learning disability support teams, district nurses and physiotherapists
Reports, statements or diaries from carers or family members
Hospital discharge or outpatient clinic letters
Test results from scans, diagnostic tests and hearing or vision tests
Your current repeat prescription list
The same booklet says not to send:
Appointment cards or letters, or letters arranging hospital admissions
General information or fact sheets about your condition, or fact sheets about your medication
Information about tests you are going to have
Bus tickets, train tickets, or directions or maps for appointments you have attended
Use it well
Practical steps from the PIP2 booklet:
Send photocopies, because DWP cannot return documents, and write your full name and reference number at the top of each photocopy
You may want to make a copy of the completed form and your supporting evidence before you send it back
If you are waiting for more supporting evidence, send the form with what you already have before the date on the front of your form
Send any more evidence you get afterwards to the address on the covering letter
Tell DWP at Question 15 if you are waiting for a report from a recent medical assessment
You can ask DWP for a copy of your assessment report
If you ask for mandatory reconsideration, GOV.UK says any evidence you send needs to support your reasons for why the decision was wrong, for example new medical evidence or reports or care plans from specialists, therapists or nurses. Only include evidence you have not already sent. You cannot claim back the cost of any evidence you pay for. GOV.UK says not to include general information about your condition, for example factsheets, medical certificates or sick notes. Our mandatory reconsideration guide and PIP appeal guide cover the next steps.
In Scotland you apply for Adult Disability Payment instead of PIP. In Northern Ireland PIP is run by the Department for Communities. This guide covers PIP in England and Wales.
PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself, and the booklet asks for supporting evidence that shows how you carry out activities and how your health condition or disability affects them. DWP's assessment guide says that in complex conditions the GP's knowledge and involvement may be limited and specialist practitioners may be better placed to give useful evidence.
What supporting documents should I send with a PIP claim?
GOV.UK says to include supporting documents if you have them, for example prescription lists, care plans, or information from your doctor or others involved in your care. The PIP2 booklet asks for photocopies because DWP cannot return documents, with your full name and reference number written at the top of each photocopy.
Does my evidence need to be recent?
For an appeal, the tribunal must not take into account any circumstances not obtaining at the time when the decision appealed against was made. For the original assessment, DWP's guide says the descriptor choice should be based on a 12 month period, broadly the 3 months before the assessment and the 9 months after.
What should I not send as PIP evidence?
DWP's PIP2 booklet says not to send appointment cards or letters, letters arranging hospital admissions, general information or fact sheets about your condition, fact sheets about your medication, information about tests you are going to have, bus or train tickets, or directions or maps for appointments you have attended.
Know Your Rights UK. "PIP Medical Evidence: What to Get From Your GP or Specialist." Know Your Rights UK, https://www.knowyourrightsuk.com/benefits/pip/gp-supporting-evidence