PIP for Mental Health: How Much You Get and How to Qualify

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.

In DWP's statistics to April 2026, psychiatric disorder was the most commonly recorded disabling condition for PIP claims under normal rules, at 39% of claims, and the assessment award rate for new claims over the five years to April 2026 was 50%. Our PIP award rates by condition guide shows the rate for individual conditions, using DWP's own figures.

• ✓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: The DWP assessment guide says a health condition or impairment may be physical, sensory, mental, intellectual or cognitive, or any combination of these, and that the impact of all impairment types must be taken into account across the activities.

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.

Whether any of these score points depends on the descriptors in Schedule 1 to the PIP Regulations 2013, which our PIP descriptors guide lists in full. Many conditions affect several activities at once, and the points for each daily living activity are added together to give your daily living score.

Daily living

• ✓Yes: Activity 1, preparing food: descriptor d (2 points) applies if you need prompting to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal, descriptor e (4 points) if you need supervision or assistance, and descriptor f (8 points) if you cannot prepare and cook food. The DWP guide says descriptor D may apply to claimants who lack motivation to prepare and cook a simple meal on the majority of days due to a mental health condition.
• ✓Yes: Activity 2, taking nutrition: descriptor d (4 points) applies if you need prompting to be able to take nutrition. The DWP guide says it applies to claimants who need to be reminded to eat, for example due to a cognitive impairment or severe depression.
• ✓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 this activity only applies to medication or therapy delivered in the home environment, and gives talking therapies undertaken in the home as an example of therapy.
• ✓Yes: Activity 4, washing and bathing: descriptor c (2 points) applies if you need supervision or prompting to be able to wash or bathe. The DWP guide says it may apply to claimants who lack motivation or need to be reminded to wash, or require supervision for safety reasons.
• ✓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, descriptor c (4 points) if you need social support, and descriptor d (8 points) if you cannot engage because it causes overwhelming psychological distress, or behaviour which would result in a substantial risk of harm to you or another person.
• ✓Yes: Activity 10, making budgeting decisions: descriptor b (2 points) applies if you need prompting or assistance to make complex budgeting decisions and descriptor c (4 points) if you need it for simple budgeting decisions. The DWP guide says this activity does not take into account a person's choices around budgeting, only their functional ability, and that if someone spends all their money at the start of the month and cannot prioritise spending, this must be due to a health condition to satisfy the descriptor.

Mobility

• ✓Yes: The DWP guide says mobility activity 1 is designed for limitations on mobility deriving from mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments.
• ✓Yes: Mobility activity 1, planning and following journeys: descriptor b (4 points) applies if you need prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress, descriptor d (10 points) if you cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid, descriptor e (10 points) if you cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress, and descriptor f (12 points) if you cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid.
• ✓Yes: The DWP guide says overwhelming psychological distress may occur in conditions such as generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, dementia or agoraphobia, and that descriptor E is likely to apply to claimants with severe mental health conditions, for example severe agoraphobia, panic disorder or psychotic illness associated with severe paranoia.
• ✓Yes: The DWP guide says a claimant who suffers overwhelming psychological distress whilst on a familiar journey and needs to be accompanied to overcome it may satisfy descriptor F, and 12 points is the score for the enhanced rate of the mobility part.

• A descriptor applies only if it is satisfied on over 50% of the days of the required period.
• For a condition that varies, the DWP guide says the descriptor choice should be based on a 12 month period, and that where there is variability the health professional should consider what the need is on the majority of days.
• 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.
• The DWP guide says the assessment looks at the underlying need for help from another person, not whether that help is available, so you may be awarded a descriptor for needing help even if it is not currently available to you.

Our guide to PIP and fluctuating conditions explains the rule in full.

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.

The maximum combined award is £194.60 a week (£778.40 every four weeks). 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.

Full amounts, including monthly equivalents, are in our PIP rates 2026/27 guide.

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 lists reports or care or treatment plans from occupational therapists, GPs or consultants, social workers, community psychiatric nurses and learning disability support teams, and reports, statements or diaries from carers or family members, as things you could send.

• It also lists hospital discharge or outpatient clinic letters about your condition or diagnosis, letters from your consultant about your condition or diagnosis, and your current repeat prescription list.
• 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.
• The booklet also asks about any aids or adaptations you use, help you get from another person, and any help you feel you need but do not get.

• Call the PIP new claims phone line on 0800 917 2222 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm), or write a letter saying you want to start a PIP claim. You will answer some basic questions about you and your condition.
• You will complete a form called 'How your disability affects you', usually online if you applied by phone, or by post. You should return it within 1 month, and GOV.UK says to contact the PIP enquiry line if you need more time or have questions.
• Include supporting documents if you have them. Send photocopies, and write your full name and reference number on the top of each one. You can send more supporting evidence afterwards to the address on the covering letter.
• You might be invited to an assessment with a health professional if more information is needed. It can take place at an assessment centre, at your home, over the phone or by video call, and usually takes 1 hour. You can have someone else with you, for example a friend or support worker. The audio of your assessment will be recorded. If you are invited, you must attend, and DWP's booklet says your claim will end if you do not attend and do not have good reason.
• You will get a letter that tells you whether you will get PIP. If you are eligible, it also tells you the date of your first payment and how long until your claim is reviewed.

• 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.
• If you still disagree, you can appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal, which GOV.UK says is impartial and independent of government. It is free to appeal, and you usually need to appeal within one month of getting your mandatory reconsideration decision.
• 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.
• In the Ministry of Justice's April to June 2026 statistics, the overturn rate in favour of the claimant for PIP cases cleared at a hearing was 67%.
• The DWP assessment guide says you can request a copy of your assessment report from DWP.