PIP Activity 10: Making Budgeting Decisions - Complete Scoring Guide

Activity 10 covers making budgeting decisions - managing money, paying bills, calculating costs, and planning purchases. This is PIP2 Question 12. It applies to anyone who cannot manage their finances independently, whether due to cognitive difficulties, mental health conditions, or learning disabilities.

The Descriptors and Points

a. Can manage complex budgeting decisions unaided - 0 points. You can manage household bills, plan spending, compare prices, and handle bank accounts independently.

b. Needs prompting or assistance to make complex budgeting decisions - 2 points. Someone helps you with bills, bank accounts, financial planning, or comparing prices for major purchases. Very common - if your partner manages the household finances because you cannot, this applies.

c. Needs prompting or assistance to make simple budgeting decisions - 4 points. You need help with basic money tasks like calculating change, knowing if something costs too much, or understanding a shop receipt.

d. Cannot make any budgeting decisions at all - 6 points. Someone else handles ALL financial matters.

"Simple" vs "Complex" Decisions

Simple: calculating the cost of items in a shop, working out change, deciding if you can afford a specific item.

Complex: managing monthly bills, planning a household budget, comparing utility providers, managing direct debits, understanding bank statements, planning future purchases.

Conditions That Score Here

Learning disabilities, ADHD (impulsive spending, cannot track bills), bipolar disorder (spending sprees during mania), dementia (cannot understand money), brain injury, severe depression (cannot manage bills, unopened post), autism (difficulty understanding abstract financial concepts), dyscalculia, schizophrenia.