PIP Change of Circumstances: What to Report and How (2026)

GOV.UK says to contact the PIP enquiry line straight away if:

• ✓Yes: You need more or less help with daily living and mobility tasks
• ✓Yes: Your health professional tells you that your condition will last for a longer or shorter time than you reported before
• ✓Yes: A medical professional has said you might have 12 months or less to live (you could get PIP at a higher rate under the special rules for end of life)
• ✓Yes: You go into a hospital, a hospice, a nursing home or a care home
• ✓Yes: You go into a residential school or college, foster care, or the care of a local authority or health and social care trust
• ✓Yes: You are imprisoned or held in detention
• ✓Yes: You plan to go abroad for more than 4 weeks
• ✓Yes: Your immigration status changes and you are not a British or Irish citizen
• ✓Yes: You, or a husband, wife, civil partner or parent you depend on, start or stop getting pensions or benefits from an EU country, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein

You must also report straight away if your personal details change (for example your name, address, phone numbers, bank account or doctor) or if the person acting on your behalf changes. These changes will not normally affect your PIP.

GOV.UK says to call the PIP enquiry line:

• PIP enquiry line: 0800 121 4433, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
• Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 then 0800 121 4433
• There is also a British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service
• Northern Ireland (Department for Communities, existing claims and enquiries): 0800 587 0932, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm

Depending on the change, your PIP could go up, go down, stay the same or stop. When DWP reviews your claim you continue to get PIP while it is reviewed, you may be sent a review form or invited to an assessment, and you then get a letter telling you what will happen.

For change of circumstances reviews from August 2021 to July 2026, DWP reports 43% of awards increased, 45% maintained, 3% decreased and 6% disallowed.

DWP's statistics say that 520,000 (89%) of the 580,000 changes of circumstances in that period resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award. They say the difference from planned reviews reflects the fact that many PIP claimants report a change of circumstances when their condition or disability deteriorates and their needs increase.

The PIP Regulations 2013 have specific payment rules for hospital, care homes, prison and time abroad:

• ✗No: Hospital: no PIP for either part is payable for a period when you are an in-patient aged 18 or over in an NHS hospital or a hospital maintained or administered by the Defence Council, except for the first 28 days of that period. The rule does not apply if you were under 18 on the day your current in-patient period began.
• ✗No: Care homes: no PIP for the daily living part is payable for a period when the costs of your care home services are met out of public or local funds, except for the first 28 days of that period. The rule is about the daily living part only.
• ✗No: Prison or detention: no PIP is payable for a period when you are undergoing imprisonment or detention in legal custody, except for the first 28 days of that period.

• Linked stays: separate periods in hospital, a care home or prison that are no more than 28 days apart are treated as one continuous period. Where both periods are in prison or detention, the gap can be up to one year.
• Going abroad: if you are temporarily absent from Great Britain, you are treated as present for the first 13 weeks of absence, or the first 26 weeks if the absence is solely in connection with arrangements for medical treatment for a condition that began before you left. Your absence is temporary if, at the start, it is unlikely to exceed 52 weeks.

Exceptions to the hospital and care home rules:

• If you are living in a hospice, you are terminally ill and DWP has been told, the care home and hospital rules do not apply
• If the total cost of your care home services is met out of your own resources, partly out of your own resources and partly with help from another person or a charity, or on your behalf by another person or a charity, the care home rule does not apply

The 28 day exception is lost in these cases:

• ✗No: You were already in a care home or hospital on the day your PIP entitlement began, so the 28 day exception does not apply to that period
• ✗No: You were already in prison or detention on the day your PIP entitlement began, so the 28 day exception does not apply to that period

• You may have to repay money if you did not report a change straight away, gave wrong information, or were overpaid by mistake.
• You could be taken to court or have to pay a penalty if you give wrong information or do not report a change straight away.
• DWP can impose a £50 civil penalty if, without reasonable excuse, you fail to report a relevant change of circumstances and this causes an overpayment.

If you are being asked to repay money, see our guide on benefit overpayments and fraud, or browse all benefits guides.