PIP descriptors are the official statements the DWP uses to score each of the 12 PIP activities. Each activity has between 2 and 9 descriptors worth 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 points; the descriptor that best matches your difficulty on most days decides your score. You need 8 points for the standard rate or 12 points for the enhanced rate. Below is every descriptor for every activity, with the points each one is worth.
Daily Living: 8 points = standard rate (£76.70/week) · 12 points = enhanced rate (£114.60/week)
Mobility: 8 points = standard rate (£30.30/week) · 12 points = enhanced rate (£80.00/week)
Enhanced rate for both = up to £10,119/year
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Try one activity free →Daily Living Activity 1: Preparing Food
This assesses whether you can prepare and cook a simple meal. Descriptors range from 0 points (can do it unaided) to 8 points (cannot prepare and cook food at all). Needing supervision for safety scores 4 points.
Daily Living Activity 2: Taking Nutrition
Covers eating and drinking, including cutting food. Points range from 0 to 10, with higher scores for needing physical assistance to eat.
Daily Living Activity 3: Managing Therapy
Includes medication, health monitoring, physiotherapy exercises and home treatments. Scored by how many hours per week you need help - from 0 to 8 points. Many people undercount their therapy time here.
Daily Living Activity 4: Washing and Bathing
Assesses whether you can wash yourself safely. 0 to 8 points, with higher scores for needing help with more of your body.
Daily Living Activity 5: Managing Toilet Needs
Covers getting to and using the toilet and managing incontinence. 0 to 8 points.
Daily Living Activity 6: Dressing and Undressing
Can you put on and take off clothes including shoes? 0 to 8 points, with upper body assistance scoring more than lower body.
How much is YOUR PIP worth?
Daily Living Activities 7-10
Activity 7: Communicating Verbally
Expressing and understanding verbal information. Up to 12 points - one of the highest-scoring activities.
Activity 8: Reading and Understanding Signs
Reading signs, symbols and words. Up to 8 points.
Activity 9: Engaging with Other People
Social engagement and interaction. Up to 8 points. Mental health conditions often score here.
Activity 10: Making Budgeting Decisions
Managing money and financial decisions. Up to 6 points.
Mobility Activity 11: Planning and Following Journeys
This is a crucial activity for mental health conditions. If anxiety or psychological distress prevents you from travelling, you could score 10-12 points on this activity alone - enough for enhanced rate mobility. Descriptors range from 0 to 12.
Mobility Activity 12: Moving Around
How far can you walk reliably? The distance is measured by what you can do safely, repeatedly and in a reasonable time. If you can walk 100 metres but it causes severe pain or you can't do it again for hours, your reliable distance may be much less. 0 to 12 points.
The Reliability Criteria - The Key to Higher Descriptors
Before any descriptor is awarded, the DWP must apply four reliability tests set out in regulation 4(2A) of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013:
- Safely - the activity can be performed in a manner unlikely to cause harm to you or another, either during or after.
- To an acceptable standard - the activity is performed to a standard reasonably comparable to a non-disabled person.
- Repeatedly - the activity can be performed as often as is reasonably required.
- In a reasonable time period - no more than twice the time it would take a non-disabled person.
If you cannot meet any one of these four tests for an activity, you should be scored as if you cannot do the activity at all. This is the single biggest reason claims fail at first decision and succeed at tribunal - the original decision-maker did not apply the reliability criteria properly.
High-Value Descriptors to Know
If you only memorise a handful, focus on these - they are where most points are won and lost.
Activity 1 - Preparing Food (key descriptors)
- Descriptor b - Needs to use an aid or appliance to prepare or cook a simple meal: 2 points
- Descriptor d - Needs prompting to prepare or cook a simple meal: 2 points
- Descriptor e - Needs supervision or assistance to either prepare or cook a simple meal: 4 points
- Descriptor f - Cannot prepare and cook food: 8 points
Activity 4 - Washing and Bathing
- Descriptor b - Needs to use an aid or appliance to wash or bathe: 2 points
- Descriptor c - Needs supervision or prompting to wash or bathe: 2 points
- Descriptor d - Needs assistance to wash either their hair or body below the waist: 2 points
- Descriptor e - Needs assistance to get in or out of a bath or shower: 3 points
- Descriptor f - Needs assistance to wash their body between the shoulders and waist: 4 points
- Descriptor g - Cannot wash and bathe at all and needs another person to wash their entire body: 8 points
Activity 9 - Engaging with Other People Face to Face
- Descriptor b - Needs prompting to be able to engage with other people: 2 points
- Descriptor c - Needs social support to engage with other people: 4 points
- Descriptor d - Cannot engage with other people due to such engagement causing either overwhelming psychological distress or the claimant to exhibit behaviour which would result in a substantial risk of harm to others: 8 points
"Social support" means an experienced person trained in handling psychological distress - this can be a partner who has learned how to manage your triggers, a community mental health support worker, a befriender or a specialist worker. It does not have to be a clinician.
Activity 11 - Planning and Following Journeys (mobility)
- Descriptor b - Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress: 4 points
- Descriptor c - Cannot plan the route of a journey: 8 points
- Descriptor d - Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid: 10 points
- Descriptor e - Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress: 10 points
- Descriptor f - Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid: 12 points
Activity 12 - Moving Around (mobility)
- Descriptor b - Can stand and then move more than 50 metres but no more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided: 4 points
- Descriptor c - Can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres: 8 points
- Descriptor d - Can stand and then move using an aid or appliance more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres: 10 points
- Descriptor e - Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres, either aided or unaided: 12 points
- Descriptor f - Cannot, either aided or unaided, stand or move more than 1 metre: 12 points
The walking distance is what you can do reliably. If you can manage 100 metres in extreme circumstances but normally only 30 metres, your descriptor is 30 metres. If you pay for the 100 metres with 48 hours of recovery, you did not do it reliably.
How to Choose the Right Descriptor
For each activity:
- Read all the descriptors for that activity carefully (full lists are on the DWP PIP assessment guide).
- Identify the highest-scoring descriptor that genuinely applies to you on the majority of days.
- Apply the four reliability tests. If you can do the higher activity but not safely, not to an acceptable standard, not repeatedly or not in reasonable time, the descriptor shifts up.
- Reference specific concrete examples in your form answers, with frequency.
- Match your evidence to the descriptor - the medical evidence should support the limitation, not just confirm the diagnosis.
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Check my answer free →Frequently Asked Questions
Can I score points from multiple descriptors in one activity?
No. Only the highest-scoring descriptor that applies counts for that activity. You cannot stack 2 points from one descriptor and 4 from another. Pick the highest one you genuinely meet and argue for it.
Do I get points for needing an aid I do not currently use?
If you would benefit from an aid and reasonably should be using one, the DWP can score you as if you do use it (even if you do not yet have it). For example, if you would reasonably benefit from a perching stool to cook safely but do not yet have one, the assessor can apply Descriptor b. This works in your favour, not against you.
What counts as "prompting"?
Prompting means being reminded, encouraged or explained to. It is different from physical assistance. If a family member has to remind you to take medication, prompt you to wash or encourage you to leave the house, that counts as prompting under PIP rules. This is especially important for mental health and cognitive conditions.
What does "assistance" mean in descriptor language?
Physical intervention by another person - not just speech. If someone has to physically help you bathe, dress, get in and out of a vehicle, that is assistance. Verbal encouragement is "prompting", physical help is "assistance".
I can do everything sometimes. What descriptor applies?
PIP descriptors apply on the majority of days. If you can perform an activity on 3 out of 7 days but not on the other 4, the "not on 4 days" experience is your descriptor. Always describe what happens on most days, not on your best days.
What happens if I'm between two descriptors?
The descriptor that applies on most days wins. If you genuinely vary, describe both situations and the proportion of time spent in each. Tribunals handle borderline cases by looking at the totality of evidence.
Does walking with a stick count as "unaided"?
No. A stick, frame, crutches or wheelchair is an aid. The descriptor changes depending on whether you can do the distance aided or unaided. Make clear in your form which aids you use and what your distance is with and without them.
Need help with your PIP form?
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