Can You Get PIP for ADHD? Eligibility and How to Apply

GOV.UK says PIP can help with extra living costs if you have a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability, and difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition.

DWP's claim form booklet says PIP is assessed on how your condition affects you, not the condition itself. The assessment looks at 12 activities in total: 10 for the daily living part and 2 for the mobility part.

• ✓Yes: You can get PIP even if you are working, have savings or are getting most other benefits.
• ✓Yes: PIP is tax free, and the amount you get is not affected by your income or savings.
• ✓Yes: A descriptor applies only if it is satisfied on over 50% of the days of the required period.
• ✓Yes: You are treated as satisfying a descriptor only if you can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period.

If you live in Scotland, GOV.UK says you need to apply for Adult Disability Payment instead of PIP. GOV.UK has separate guidance for people who live in Northern Ireland.

Our PIP award rates by condition guide sets out DWP's own figures for ADHD.

The NHS says symptoms of ADHD involve your ability to pay attention (being inattentive), having high energy levels (being hyperactive) and your ability to control your impulses (being impulsive). For adults the NHS lists signs such as being easily distracted or forgetful, finding it hard to organise your time, finding it hard to follow instructions or finish tasks, losing things often, interrupting conversations, and making quick decisions without thinking about what might happen as a result.

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. Our PIP descriptors guide lists all of them.

Daily living

• ✓Yes: Activity 3, managing therapy or monitoring a health condition: descriptor b (1 point) applies if you need supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage medication, or to monitor a health condition. The DWP guide says prompting may be necessary to remind you to take medication at certain times, for example due to problems with short-term memory.
• ✓Yes: Activity 6, dressing and undressing: descriptor c (2 points) applies if you need 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.
• ✓Yes: Activity 9, 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. Descriptor b (2 points) applies if you need prompting to be able to engage with other people, and descriptor c (4 points) if you need social support.
• ✓Yes: Activity 10, making budgeting decisions: complex budgeting decisions are calculating household and personal budgets, managing and paying bills, and planning future purchases. Descriptor b (2 points) applies if you need prompting or assistance to make complex budgeting decisions, and the DWP guide says prompting includes being encouraged or reminded.

Mobility

• ✓Yes: Mobility activity 1, planning and following journeys: the DWP guide says this activity is designed for limitations deriving from mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments, and that cognitive impairment includes attention, concentration and memory. Descriptor f (12 points) applies if you cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid, and descriptors c to e score 8 to 10 points.

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.

You are entitled to a part at the standard rate if your ability to carry out its activities is limited, and at the enhanced rate if it is severely limited. You have limited ability where you score at least 8 points in that part, and severely limited ability where you score at least 12 points.

Maximum combined award: £114.60 + £80.00 = £194.60 per week (£10,119.20 a year). PIP is usually paid every 4 weeks.

GOV.UK says you might be eligible for a Motability Scheme vehicle if you get the higher mobility rate of PIP.

GOV.UK says to include supporting documents with your form if you have them, for example prescription lists, care plans, or information from your doctor or others involved in your care.

DWP's booklet says to send information about how your health condition or disability affects your daily life, and documents you already have available.

• 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, and letters from your consultants about your condition or diagnosis
• Your current repeat prescription list
• A statement of special educational needs, or an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan

What DWP says not to send:

• ✗No: Appointment cards or letters
• ✗No: General information or fact sheets about your condition
• ✗No: Fact sheets about your medication

DWP's booklet says it needs you to tell it as much as you can on the form.

• For each activity DWP asks you to tell it what the difficulty is, 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.
• DWP asks whether you can complete each activity safely, within an acceptable time (the booklet gives about twice the time it may take another person who does not have a disability), to an acceptable standard, and as often as you need to.
• Tell DWP any aids or specialist equipment you use, any help you get from another person, and any help you feel you need but do not get.
• Tell DWP why you have the difficulty, or how it relates to your condition.

In the regulations, safely means in a manner unlikely to cause harm to you or to another person, either during or after completion of the activity. If you need more space, you can use separate pieces of paper, writing your name and reference number at the top of each extra page and saying which questions your comments refer to. Someone else, such as a carer, can give information from their point of view, as well as or instead of you giving it yourself.

If you disagree with a decision about your claim, you can ask for mandatory reconsideration. You usually need to ask for mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date of the decision.

Someone will look at your whole benefit claim again, and your benefit may stop, stay the same, increase or decrease.

• You can send evidence, for example new medical evidence, or reports or care plans from specialists, therapists or nurses.
• DWP statistics to July 2026 say that for initial PIP decisions following an assessment between April 2021 and March 2026, 15% of completed mandatory reconsiderations (excluding withdrawn) resulted in a change to the award.
• If you still disagree, you can appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, which is impartial and independent of government. It is free to appeal, and you appeal within one month of getting your mandatory reconsideration decision.
• In the Ministry of Justice's tribunal statistics for April to June 2026, the overturn rate in favour of the claimant for PIP cases cleared at a tribunal hearing was 67%.
• You can get free help and advice from Citizens Advice, Advicenow or an adviser near you on Advicelocal.