PIP Descriptors and Points: All 12 Activities, Box by Box
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PIP is scored against 12 activities, and each activity has a set of descriptors worth a fixed number of points. This is the full box-by-box reference: every descriptor, the exact points, what genuinely scores, the reliability test applied to that activity, the assessor traps, and the evidence that helps. Use it alongside the PIP2 form, 'How your disability affects you', to make sure you do not lose points you are entitled to.
Key points
✓12 activities: 10 daily living (max 8 to 12 points each) and 2 mobility (max 12 each).
✓For each activity you score only your single highest descriptor, not several added together.
✓A descriptor counts if it is true for more than 50% of days over a 12-month period.
✓Every descriptor must be met reliably: safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and in reasonable time.
✓8 points = standard rate, 12 points = enhanced rate, scored separately for each component.
How to use this box-by-box guide
PIP is not awarded on diagnosis. You score points based on how your condition affects 12 everyday activities. Each activity below shows the official descriptors and their points, then explains what scores, what is easy to miss, and what evidence helps.
✓Yes: 10 activities make up the Daily Living component; 2 make up Mobility. The two are scored separately.
✓Yes: Within each activity, you take only the highest-scoring descriptor that applies to you, you do not add descriptors together.
✓Yes: You then total the descriptors across all 10 daily living activities, and separately across the 2 mobility activities.
✓Yes: 8 to 11 points in a component = standard rate; 12 or more = enhanced rate.
✓Yes: A descriptor counts if it applies to you on more than half of the days over a 12-month period, so describe how you are on those days, not your best ones.
This table applies in Scotland too. There is no PIP in Scotland, the equivalent is Adult Disability Payment, paid by Social Security Scotland at the same rates. Its assessment uses the same twelve activities with the same maximum points, set out in Schedule 1 to the Disability Assistance for Working Age People (Scotland) Regulations 2022. What differs is who decides and how you challenge a decision: see our guide to challenging a decision.
Keep your deadline, your evidence and every call and letter together in the free Claim Companion workspace. Log your good and bad days as they happen, so your record is ready when you need it.
The descriptors use a small set of legal terms with precise meanings, and reading them the everyday way can cost points.
Aided / unaided
“Aided” means with the use of an aid or appliance, or with supervision, prompting or assistance. “Unaided” means without any of those. Many descriptors hinge on this single word.
Aid or appliance
Any device that improves, provides or replaces your impaired physical or mental function, for example a walking stick, a perch stool, a dosette box or a communication device. It can be something you do not yet have but could reasonably be expected to use.
Prompting
Reminding, encouraging or explaining by another person. It does not include physical help. Often relevant for mental health conditions, ADHD, autism and learning disability.
Supervision
The continuous presence of another person to ensure your safety while you do the activity.
Assistance
Physical intervention by another person to help you do the activity. It does not include speech, that would be prompting.
Communication support
Support from a person trained or experienced in communicating with people with specific communication needs, such as a BSL interpreter (activity 7).
Social support
Support from a person trained or experienced in helping people engage in social situations (activity 9). DWP's assessment guide says this can be a friend or family member with that training or experience.
Psychological distress
Distress related to an enduring mental-health condition or an intellectual or cognitive impairment. It is the trigger for several mobility descriptors.
Reliably
You can only be treated as able to do an activity if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and in no more than twice the time it would take someone without your condition. All four must be met.
The 10 daily living activities follow, then the 2 mobility activities. The 0-point descriptor (a) in each is the baseline, no difficulty, every other descriptor scores.
Daily living activity 1: Preparing food
Maximum 8 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can prepare and cook a simple meal unaided.
0
b
Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal.
2
c
Cannot cook a simple meal using a conventional cooker but is able to do so using a microwave.
2
d
Needs prompting to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal.
2
e
Needs supervision or assistance to either prepare or cook a simple meal.
4
f
Cannot prepare and cook food.
8
What actually scores
✓Yes: A “simple meal” means a cooked one-course meal for one using fresh ingredients. “Prepare” means make food ready for cooking or eating, and “cook” means heat food at or above waist height.
✓Yes: Needing an aid, such as a perching stool or a spiked chopping board, scores descriptor b.
✓Yes: If you can only manage a microwave because using a conventional cooker is unsafe for you (seizures, tremor, fainting, poor concentration), that is descriptor c, not “no problem”.
✓Yes: Needing someone to remind, encourage or talk you through it (common with depression, ADHD, learning disability) is prompting, descriptor d.
✓Yes: Needing someone present for safety, or to help physically, is supervision or assistance, descriptor e.
Common trap: Do not let “you could use a microwave” be treated as no difficulty. Descriptor c still scores 2 points, and if you cannot use a conventional cooker safely you should say exactly why.
Evidence that helps: An occupational therapy kitchen-safety assessment, a GP or consultant letter about tremor, seizures, fatigue or concentration, and a list of the aids you use all help here.
Daily living activity 2: Taking nutrition
Maximum 10 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can take nutrition unaided.
0
b
Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to take nutrition; or supervision to be able to take nutrition; or assistance to be able to cut up food.
2
c
Needs a therapeutic source to be able to take nutrition.
2
d
Needs prompting to be able to take nutrition.
4
e
Needs assistance to be able to manage a therapeutic source to take nutrition.
6
f
Cannot convey food and drink to their mouth and needs another person to do so.
10
What actually scores
✓Yes: This activity is only about eating and drinking the food in front of you, not cooking it. Cooking is activity 1.
✓Yes: Needing specially adapted cutlery, supervision because you are at significant risk of choking, or someone to cut your food up scores descriptor b.
✓Yes: A “therapeutic source” means parenteral or enteral tube feeding, using a rate-limiting device such as a delivery system or feed pump, descriptors c and e.
✓Yes: Needing to be reminded or encouraged to eat, which can happen with eating disorders, severe depression, dementia and some learning disabilities, is prompting, descriptor d (4 points).
Common trap: People can assume “taking nutrition” only means physically being fed, but needing another person to prompt you to eat scores 4 points in its own right.
Evidence that helps: Letters from a dietitian or eating-disorder service, a care plan, and weight records that show the impact of not eating reliably.
Daily living activity 3: Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition
Maximum 8 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Does not receive medication or therapy or need to monitor a health condition; or can manage medication or therapy or monitor a health condition unaided.
0
b
Needs any one or more of the following: to use an aid or appliance to be able to manage medication; supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage medication; supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to monitor a health condition.
1
c
Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes no more than 3.5 hours a week.
2
d
Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes more than 3.5 but no more than 7 hours a week.
4
e
Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes more than 7 but no more than 14 hours a week.
6
f
Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes more than 14 hours a week.
8
What actually scores
✓Yes: “Managing medication” means taking medication where failing to do so is likely to make your health worse. DWP's assessment guide gives dosette boxes, alarms and reminders as examples of aids; needing an aid or needing prompting both score descriptor b (1 point).
✓Yes: “Monitoring a health condition” means detecting significant changes in your condition that are likely to make your health worse, and taking the action a registered doctor, nurse or health professional has advised.
✓Yes: “Therapy” is therapy done at home that a registered health professional has prescribed or recommended, such as home dialysis, talking therapies and exercise regimes. DWP's guide counts the time help is needed: 15 minutes of help with compression bandages each day totals 1 hour and 45 minutes a week, even though the bandages are worn all day.
Common trap: The therapy descriptors only apply if you need supervision, prompting or assistance to manage the therapy. Make clear who helps, what they do and for how long each week.
Evidence that helps: Your repeat-prescription list, a care plan, a therapy schedule, and a short statement from the person who helps you, saying what they do and how many hours a week.
Daily living activity 4: Washing and bathing
Maximum 8 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can wash and bathe unaided.
0
b
Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to wash or bathe.
2
c
Needs supervision or prompting to be able to wash or bathe.
2
d
Needs assistance to be able to wash either their hair or body below the waist.
2
e
Needs assistance to be able to get in or out of a bath or shower.
3
f
Needs assistance to be able to wash their body between the shoulders and waist.
4
g
Cannot wash and bathe at all and needs another person to wash their entire body.
8
What actually scores
✓Yes: Needing an aid such as a long-handled sponge, a shower seat or a bath rail scores descriptor b.
✓Yes: Needing someone present for your safety (for example because of dizziness, seizures or falls) or to prompt you scores descriptor c.
✓Yes: “Assistance” means physical help from another person. Help washing below the waist or your hair is descriptor d; help getting in or out is e; help washing between shoulders and waist is f.
Common trap: Only the single highest-scoring descriptor counts for each activity. Needing a shower seat and help below the waist does not add up, you take the highest. Make sure you describe the help you actually need, not just the aid, so you are not scored at 2 points when you should be higher.
Evidence that helps: An occupational therapy bathroom assessment, a GP letter, and photos of any adaptations fitted in your bathroom.
Daily living activity 5: Managing toilet needs or incontinence
Maximum 8 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can manage toilet needs or incontinence unaided.
0
b
Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to manage toilet needs or incontinence.
2
c
Needs supervision or prompting to be able to manage toilet needs.
2
d
Needs assistance to be able to manage toilet needs.
4
e
Needs assistance to be able to manage incontinence of either bladder or bowel.
6
f
Needs assistance to be able to manage incontinence of both bladder and bowel.
8
What actually scores
✓Yes: “Toilet needs” means getting on and off an unadapted toilet, emptying the bladder and bowel, and cleaning yourself afterwards. Incontinence is defined separately.
✓Yes: A commode, raised toilet seat, bottom wiper, incontinence pads or a stoma bag can be an aid, descriptor b.
✓Yes: Needing physical help to get on or off the toilet or to clean yourself is assistance, descriptor d.
✓Yes: If you cannot control your bladder or bowel and need another person to help manage it, that is descriptor e (one of them) or f (both).
Common trap: Continence pads on their own are an aid (2 points). If you actually need another person to help you manage incontinence, that scores 6 or 8 points, do not undersell it as just “I wear pads”.
Evidence that helps: A letter from a continence service or your GP, and a care plan describing the help you need.
Daily living activity 6: Dressing and undressing
Maximum 8 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can dress and undress unaided.
0
b
Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to dress or undress.
2
c
Needs either prompting to be able to dress, undress or determine appropriate circumstances for remaining clothed; or prompting or assistance to be able to select appropriate clothing.
2
d
Needs assistance to be able to dress or undress their lower body.
2
e
Needs assistance to be able to dress or undress their upper body.
4
f
Cannot dress or undress at all.
8
What actually scores
✓Yes: Button hooks and sock aids are examples of aids, descriptor b. “Dress and undress” includes putting on and taking off socks and shoes.
✓Yes: Needing prompting to dress or undress, or prompting or assistance to choose appropriate clothing, scores descriptor c. This can be relevant to dementia, learning disability and severe depression.
✓Yes: Physical help with your lower body scores descriptor d; help with your upper body scores e.
Common trap: Needing help to select appropriate clothing is easy to overlook but it scores. If you would go out under-dressed for the cold, or cannot judge what to wear without someone guiding you, say so.
Evidence that helps: An occupational therapy report, and a GP or psychiatrist letter about the cognitive or motivational impact of your condition.
Daily living activity 7: Communicating verbally
Maximum 12 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can express and understand verbal information unaided.
0
b
Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to speak or hear.
2
c
Needs communication support to be able to express or understand complex verbal information.
4
d
Needs communication support to be able to express or understand basic verbal information.
8
e
Cannot express or understand verbal information at all even with communication support.
12
What actually scores
✓Yes: This activity is about words, speaking and hearing them, not about the social or emotional side of dealing with people. That is activity 9.
✓Yes: Needing a hearing aid to hear to an acceptable standard, or an electro larynx to speak, is descriptor b (2 points).
✓Yes: “Communication support” means help from someone trained or experienced in communicating with people with specific communication needs. DWP's guide gives a sign language interpreter as an example, or a family member or carer with direct experience of communicating with you.
✓Yes: This is the only daily living activity with a 12-point descriptor, so in principle it can reach the enhanced threshold on its own.
Common trap: Do not confuse this with engaging with people (activity 9). This descriptor is purely about getting verbal information in and out, hearing it and saying it, regardless of any anxiety about social situations.
Evidence that helps: Audiology results, speech-and-language therapy letters, and confirmation of any interpreter or communication support you rely on.
Daily living activity 8: Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words
Maximum 8 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can read and understand basic and complex written information either unaided or using spectacles or contact lenses.
0
b
Needs to use an aid or appliance, other than spectacles or contact lenses, to be able to read or understand either basic or complex written information.
2
c
Needs prompting to be able to read or understand complex written information.
2
d
Needs prompting to be able to read or understand basic written information.
4
e
Cannot read or understand signs, symbols or words at all.
8
What actually scores
✓Yes: Glasses and contact lenses do not count as an aid here, the activity assumes you are already wearing them.
✓Yes: Aids such as screen magnification indoors or a portable magnifying glass outdoors come under descriptor b.
✓Yes: Needing another person to explain written information is prompting, descriptor c (complex) or d (basic).
✓Yes: This is relevant to dyslexia, learning disability, acquired brain injury and sight loss, not only literacy.
Common trap: Difficulty understanding rather than just seeing words counts. Someone with a learning disability or brain injury who can see print but cannot make sense of a basic letter without help scores under descriptor d.
Evidence that helps: An educational-psychology or dyslexia report, a learning-disability assessment, or an optometry report on a visual impairment that glasses do not fix.
Daily living activity 9: Engaging with other people face to face
Maximum 8 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can engage with other people unaided.
0
b
Needs prompting to be able to engage with other people.
2
c
Needs social support to be able to engage with other people.
4
d
Cannot engage with other people due to such engagement causing either overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant; or the claimant to exhibit behaviour which would result in a substantial risk of harm to the claimant or another person.
8
What actually scores
✓Yes: “Engaging” means interacting with people in a contextually and socially appropriate way, understanding body language and establishing relationships, the social and emotional side, not just speaking words.
✓Yes: Needing reminders or encouragement to engage is prompting, descriptor b.
✓Yes: “Social support” (descriptor c, 4 points) is help from someone trained or experienced in helping people engage in social situations. DWP's assessment guide says the other person may be a friend or family member, but a close and comforting relationship without that training or experience is not enough.
✓Yes: Descriptor d covers being unable to engage at all because it causes overwhelming psychological distress, or because it would risk harm.
Common trap: The line between prompting (2 points) and social support (4 points) turns on whether the help must come from someone with training or experience for it to work, so spell that out. This matters for conditions such as autism, social anxiety, PTSD and personality disorders.
Evidence that helps: Letters from a community mental health team, an autism diagnosis with a functional report, and a statement from whoever supports you socially describing what they have to do.
Daily living activity 10: Making budgeting decisions
Maximum 6 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can manage complex budgeting decisions unaided.
0
b
Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make complex budgeting decisions.
2
c
Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make simple budgeting decisions.
4
d
Cannot make any budgeting decisions at all.
6
What actually scores
✓Yes: “Complex budgeting” means calculating household and personal budgets, managing and paying bills and planning future purchases.
✓Yes: “Simple budgeting” means calculating the cost of goods and the change required after a purchase.
✓Yes: Difficulty only with complex budgeting scores 2 points; difficulty even with simple budgeting scores 4 points.
Common trap: It looks back-to-front but is correct: struggling with simple budgeting scores more (4 points) than struggling only with complex budgeting (2 points). This matters for learning disability, dementia, ADHD and severe mental illness.
Evidence that helps: Evidence of an appointee or someone who manages your money, letters from a debt or money adviser, and examples of financial difficulties caused by your condition.
Mobility activity 1: Planning and following journeys
Maximum 12 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can plan and follow the route of a journey unaided.
0
b
Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant.
4
c
Cannot plan the route of a journey.
8
d
Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid.
10
e
Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress.
10
f
Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid.
12
What actually scores
✓Yes: DWP's assessment guide says this activity is designed for limits on mobility from mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments, while how far you can physically move is activity 2.
✓Yes: “Psychological distress” has a legal meaning: distress related to an enduring mental health condition or an intellectual or cognitive impairment. Descriptors b and e name it directly, but it is not confined to them. The Upper Tribunal decided in MH v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP) [2016] UKUT 531 (AAC) that it is also relevant to following the route of a journey under descriptors d and f, and DWP changed how it considers overwhelming psychological distress from 28 November 2016.
✓Yes: DWP says it is looking again at claims decided on or after 28 November 2016 where it did not award PIP, will write to you with the outcome, and will usually backdate any increase to 28 November 2016, or to the date you started getting PIP if you claimed later. If you have trouble following a journey because of overwhelming psychological distress and scored nothing here, raise it.
✓Yes: “Cannot plan a route” (descriptor c) covers being unable to work out how to get somewhere, common with learning disability, autism and brain injury.
✓Yes: Being unable to follow an unfamiliar route without help scores 10 points; being unable to follow even a familiar route without help scores the full 12.
Common trap: Driving: DWP's assessment guide tells assessors to explore it when a claimant drives a car but says they cannot do other activities needing similar dexterity. If you drive, be ready to explain why driving a familiar route does not show you can plan an unfamiliar journey or cope with the distress of going out.
Evidence that helps: Mental health team letters, examples of getting lost or panicking on public transport, and a note of who has to come with you and why.
Mobility activity 2: Moving around
Maximum 12 points. Take only the single highest-scoring descriptor that is true for you on more than half of days.
Descriptor
Points
a
Can stand and then move more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided.
0
b
Can stand and then move more than 50 metres but no more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided.
4
c
Can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres.
8
d
Can stand and then move using an aid or appliance more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres.
10
e
Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres, either aided or unaided.
12
f
Cannot, either aided or unaided, stand; or move more than 1 metre.
12
What actually scores
✓Yes: This is the physical moving activity. “Stand” means stand upright with at least one biological foot on the ground, then move.
✓Yes: The 20-metre line decides the 12-point descriptors here: if you cannot reliably stand and then move more than 20 metres, descriptor e or f applies, and 12 points on its own reaches the enhanced mobility rate.
✓Yes: Distance must be achieved reliably, see below, walking 30 metres once, very slowly and in pain, is not the same as being able to move 50 metres.
Common trap: Every distance must be done reliably: safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in no more than twice the normal time. Pain, breathlessness, the need to stop and rest, and how you feel afterwards all count, an assessor watching you walk into the room for a few seconds has not seen this.
Evidence that helps: Letters from a physiotherapist or consultant about your walking distance, evidence of using a wheelchair, crutches or a stick, and a clear statement of how far you can go before you have to stop.
Adding it up: a worked example
Imagine someone with depression and chronic back pain who, on more than half their days:
✓Yes: Preparing food, needs prompting to cook, descriptor d (2 points)
✓Yes: Washing and bathing, needs a shower seat and a grab rail, descriptor b (2 points)
✓Yes: Dressing, needs assistance with the lower body because of back pain, descriptor d (2 points)
✓Yes: Engaging with people, needs social support, descriptor c (4 points)
✓Yes: Daily living total: 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 = 10 points = standard rate Daily Living
✓Yes: Moving around, can stand and move only 15 metres before stopping in pain, descriptor e (12 points)
Each component is judged on its own. Here the person gets standard Daily Living and enhanced Mobility, a mix is normal. Run your own figures with the PIP points calculator.
Turning the descriptors into a winning claim
Knowing the descriptors is half the job. The other half is describing your day so the points are obvious to the decision-maker:
✓Yes: For every activity, name the descriptor that fits and give a real example from a bad day.
✓Yes: Apply the reliability test out loud: explain if you cannot do it safely, to a decent standard, repeatedly, or in reasonable time.
✓Yes: Say how often the difficulty happens, the 50% rule means a problem on most days counts even if you have good days.
✓Yes: List the aids you use, and any you could reasonably use but do not, both can score.
✓Yes: Send evidence that shows function, not just diagnosis, GP or specialist letters, care plans, an OT report, a symptom diary.
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Frequently asked questions
What are the PIP descriptors?
PIP descriptors are the written statements under each of the 12 PIP activities that describe different levels of difficulty. Each descriptor carries a fixed number of points (from 0 up to 12). The DWP scores your claim by choosing, for each activity, the single highest-scoring descriptor that applies to you on more than half of days, then totalling the points across the daily living activities and separately across the mobility activities.
How many points is each PIP activity worth?
The daily living activities have these maximums: preparing food 8, taking nutrition 10, managing therapy 8, washing and bathing 8, managing toilet needs 8, dressing 8, communicating verbally 12, reading 8, engaging with people 8, budgeting 6. Both mobility activities (planning and following journeys, and moving around) have a maximum of 12 points.
Can I add up two descriptors in the same activity?
No. Within a single activity you can only score the one highest descriptor that applies to you. For example, if you use a shower seat (descriptor b, 2 points) and also need help washing below the waist (descriptor d, 2 points), you take the higher of the two, not both. You do, however, add the chosen descriptor from each separate activity together to get your component total.
What does 'reliably' mean for the PIP descriptors?
You can only be counted as able to do an activity if you can do it reliably, which the regulations define as: safely (without risk of harm), to an acceptable standard, repeatedly (as often as needed), and within a reasonable time (no more than twice as long as someone without your condition). If you fail any one of these four, a descriptor saying you can do the activity that way should not apply.
Do I have to use an aid to score points for it?
Not necessarily. A descriptor can apply if you reasonably need an aid or appliance, even one you do not currently own, to do the activity safely and reliably. So if a perch stool or a grab rail would let you manage a task you otherwise cannot, you can be scored as needing that aid, mention it on your form.
Has the PIP scoring changed for 2026?
The descriptors and points in force are still those in Schedule 1 to the PIP Regulations 2013, shown on this page, including the 20-metre line in the moving around activity. The Timms Review of PIP published emerging recommendations in September 2026. The proposed four-point rule, which would have required four or more points in at least one daily living activity, was removed from the Bill on 9 July 2025 and never became law.
Know Your Rights UK. "PIP Descriptors and Points: All 12 Activities, Box by Box." Know Your Rights UK, https://www.knowyourrightsuk.com/benefits/pip/pip-descriptors