PIP2 Form: How to Fill in 'How Your Disability Affects You'

You start a PIP claim by phone (0800 917 2222 for new claims; 0800 012 1573 in Northern Ireland). You then complete a form called ‘How your disability affects you’ (the PIP2). If you applied by phone you can usually do this online, using a link emailed to you after your call, or by post, when you'll usually receive the form within 2 weeks.

• PIP scores 12 activities, 10 about daily living and 2 about getting around
• Fill in the form using the guidance that comes with it
• Include supporting documents if you have them, such as prescription lists, care plans, or information from your doctor
• DWP might invite you to an assessment with a health professional if more information is needed

The booklet quoted in this guide is the example that GOV.UK publishes for information only, and it is dated January 2021. GOV.UK lists no other PIP2 example in its collection of example PIP forms, so use the guidance that comes with your own form if it differs.

DWP's booklet asks, for each activity, whether you can complete it in these four ways:

• ✓Yes: Safely
• ✓Yes: Within an acceptable time, for example about twice the time it may take another person who does not have a disability
• ✓Yes: To an acceptable standard
• ✓Yes: As often as you need to

Regulation 4 of the PIP Regulations 2013 says you can only be assessed as satisfying a descriptor if you can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period. If you fail any of these four, a descriptor that says you can do the activity should not apply.

DWP's booklet gives this example of how to describe a difficulty: 'About 3 times a week, I have trouble dressing my upper body because my hands shake too much to do up the buttons on my shirt. I use a button hook to do the buttons on my shirt.'

For every activity, DWP's booklet asks you to tell it:

Regulation 7 says a descriptor applies if it is satisfied on over 50% of the days of the required period.

GOV.UK asks you to include supporting documents if you have them. DWP's booklet says supporting evidence may mean it can make a decision more quickly and accurately, give you the right level of support, and not need an assessment with a health professional. It says to send photocopies, because DWP cannot return documents.

DWP's booklet says 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 or physiotherapists
• Reports, statements or diaries from carers or family members
• Hospital discharge or outpatient clinic letters about your condition or diagnosis
• Letters from your consultants about your condition or diagnosis
• Test results from scans, diagnostic tests, and hearing or vision tests
• Your current repeat prescription list
• A statement of special educational needs, an Education, Health and Care plan or a certificate of visual impairment

DWP's booklet says not to send:

• ✗No: Appointment cards or letters
• ✗No: Letters arranging hospital admissions
• ✗No: General information or fact sheets about your condition
• ✗No: Fact sheets about your medication
• ✗No: Information about tests you are going to have
• ✗No: Bus tickets, train tickets, or directions or maps for appointments you have attended

DWP's booklet gives these steps before you send the form back:

• Photocopy your supporting evidence and write your full name and reference number at the top of each page
• Return the form with photocopies of your supporting evidence by the date on your letter
• Put the form and the photocopies in the envelope provided so the address shows through the window, which does not need a stamp
• Tear off the letter and notes on the front of the form and keep them safe, because the letter has the address for sending more evidence and your reference number
• Make a copy of the form and your supporting evidence for future reference before you send it back

After the DWP receives your form, it might invite you to an assessment (at an assessment centre, at your home, by phone or by video call) if more information is needed. If DWP invites you to an assessment, its booklet says you must attend, and that if you do not attend and do not have a good reason your PIP claim will end. GOV.UK says you will get a letter that tells you whether you will get PIP. If you disagree with the decision, GOV.UK says you can challenge it by asking for mandatory reconsideration, and you can then appeal.