PIP for Osteoarthritis: Can You Claim? Guide 2026

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, caused by wear and damage to the joints over time. It brings pain, stiffness and reduced movement, most often in the knees, hips, hands and spine. It can absolutely qualify for PIP, but a lot of people with osteoarthritis miss out because they treat it as "just arthritis" and play down how much it limits them day to day. PIP is not about your diagnosis or your X-ray. It is about what you can and cannot do safely, reliably and repeatedly, and osteoarthritis affects exactly the everyday tasks PIP measures.

Can You Get PIP for Osteoarthritis?

Yes. You can claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for osteoarthritis, and there is no list of conditions that automatically qualify or disqualify you for PIP. Osteoarthritis is one of the most common reasons people claim. The assessment ignores the label and looks at function instead. So the question is never "does osteoarthritis count?" but "how much does my osteoarthritis stop me doing the things on the PIP form?" If pain and stiffness mean you struggle to cook a meal, wash, dress or get around on most days, you may well score enough points for an award.

PIP has two parts. The daily living component covers tasks such as preparing food, washing, dressing and managing your treatment. The mobility component covers moving around and planning journeys. Osteoarthritis often affects both, especially when the knees and hips are involved. The actual amounts are set by the DWP and change each year, so always check the current weekly rates on gov.uk rather than relying on a figure you read somewhere.

How to Claim PIP for Osteoarthritis

To claim PIP for osteoarthritis, you start the claim with the DWP by phone on 0800 917 2222 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm), by post to Freepost DWP PIP 1 or online if your postcode is in an area where full online applications are open. The DWP then sends the "How your disability affects you" form, and you have one month to return it. On that form, describe each activity your joints affect, such as cooking, washing, dressing and walking, rather than the diagnosis, and say how often it is like that. If you live in Scotland you apply for Adult Disability Payment instead, and in Northern Ireland you claim PIP through the Department for Communities. Our step-by-step guide to how to apply for PIP covers each stage.

Which Activities Does Osteoarthritis Affect?

Osteoarthritis maps onto several of the scored PIP activities. The exact ones depend on which joints are affected, but these are the most common:

Preparing Food (Activity 1): reduced grip from hand osteoarthritis making it hard to hold and use a knife, peeler or pan. Pain and stiffness in the hips, knees or back making it difficult to stand at the worktop long enough to chop and cook. Dropping things, or being unable to lift a full pan safely.

Washing and Bathing (Activity 4): difficulty reaching to wash your back, lower legs or feet, problems bending and trouble getting in and out of the bath because of hip and knee pain. Some people can only manage a shower with a seat, or need rails and another person nearby for safety.

Dressing and Undressing (Activity 6): bending to put on socks, tights and shoes is one of the most commonly reported problems with hip and knee osteoarthritis. Hand osteoarthritis makes buttons, zips and laces slow and painful, so some people need adapted clothing or help from another person.

Moving Around (Activity 12): hip and knee pain limiting how far you can walk, difficulty on stairs and slopes and needing to stop and rest. The mobility component looks at the distance you can walk safely, reliably, repeatedly and in a reasonable time, so a short distance managed slowly and in pain still counts.

Managing Therapy (Activity 3): needing prompting, help or an aid such as a dosette box to manage regular pain medication at home scores 1 point (descriptor 3b), however long it takes. Higher scores (2 to 8 points) are only for prescribed therapy done at home with another person's help, such as a physiotherapy exercise programme you cannot manage alone, counted by the hours of help each week. Physiotherapy appointments and steroid joint injections given at a clinic do not count under this activity.

Osteoarthritis can also affect getting around your home and toilet needs if pain is severe, but the activities above are usually where most points come from.

How Many PIP Points Can You Get for Osteoarthritis?

There is no set number of points for osteoarthritis. Points come from how your joints affect each activity on more than half of days, and each activity scores only the highest descriptor that applies to you. These are the descriptors that commonly come into play with osteoarthritis, in the exact wording of Schedule 1 to the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013:

Daily living points from Activities 1 to 10 are added together, and mobility points from Activities 11 and 12 are added together. At least 8 points in a component give the standard rate and at least 12 give the enhanced rate (regulations 5 and 6). In 2026/27 that is £76.70 or £114.60 a week for daily living and £30.30 or £80.00 a week for mobility (GOV.UK). How these totals turn into money is set out in our guide to the PIP points system.

As an illustration only: someone whose knees and hands mean they need an aid to cook (1b, 2 points), help getting in and out of the shower (4e, 3 points) and help putting on socks and shoes (6d, 2 points) has 7 daily living points, one short of the standard rate. If they also need a raised toilet seat to get on and off the toilet (5b, 2 points), the total is 9, which reaches it. That is why every activity is worth describing in full. Our guides to Activity 4 washing and bathing, Activity 6 dressing and Activity 12 moving around (including whether walking through pain counts) go into each one.

Is there an NHS PIP points calculator?

Not as such, because the NHS does not decide PIP. PIP is decided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), or by the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland. In Scotland, Adult Disability Payment is decided by Social Security Scotland. What the NHS holds is evidence: X-ray and scan reports, physiotherapy notes, GP notes and orthopaedic or rheumatology letters can all back up what you say about each activity. To estimate your own points across all 12 activities, use our free PIP points calculator. If you live in Scotland, you apply for Adult Disability Payment instead of PIP.

Pain, Stiffness and the Reliability Test

This is the single most important idea for an osteoarthritis claim, and it is the one people most often miss. PIP does not ask whether you can do a task at all. It asks whether you can do it reliably. The rules say you can only be counted as able to complete an activity if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time. If you fail any one of those four, you should be treated as unable to do it.

Osteoarthritis fails these tests constantly. Think about how this plays out:

• Safely: can you get in and out of the bath without a real risk of slipping or your knee giving way? Can you carry a hot pan when your grip is unreliable?
• To an acceptable standard: can you actually wash all of your body, or do you skip your feet and lower legs because you cannot reach them?
• Repeatedly: you might manage to get dressed once in the morning, but could you do it again later, or does the effort leave the joint too painful and stiff?
• In a reasonable time: if it takes you three times as long as someone without osteoarthritis to chop vegetables or climb the stairs, that is not a reasonable time.

When you fill in your form, do not just tick that you "can" do something. Explain the pain, the stiffness, the risk and the time it takes. "I can get dressed but it takes 25 minutes, I have to sit down to do it and I cannot reach my own feet to put socks on" tells the assessor far more than "I can dress myself".

Fluctuating Good and Bad Days and the Majority of Days Rule

Osteoarthritis is not the same every day. Pain and stiffness can be worse first thing in the morning, after activity, in cold or damp weather or with no obvious reason at all. PIP is designed to cope with this through what is usually called the majority of days rule. For each activity, the assessor should decide which descriptor applies on more than half of the days over a 12 month period, looking back and forward from when you claim.

In practice that means you do not lose points just because you have some better days. If your knees stop you walking more than a short distance on most days, you meet that descriptor even if one day in the week is easier. The mistake people make is describing a good day, or an average that quietly cancels out the bad days. Describe a typical bad day honestly, then state how often bad days happen.

Keeping a short diary for two to four weeks can make this much easier. Note how each day was, what you could not do and any help you needed. You do not usually need to send the diary in, but it helps you give accurate, consistent answers instead of guessing.

Joint Replacement and PIP

Many people with severe hip or knee osteoarthritis are referred for a joint replacement, and this is highly relevant to a PIP claim. You do not have to wait until after surgery to apply. The months spent waiting for a replacement are often when osteoarthritis is at its most disabling, with severe constant pain, a joint that may give way and walking cut right down. Claim based on how things are for you now.

A referral or a place on the waiting list for a hip or knee replacement is also strong supporting evidence. It shows that a specialist considers your osteoarthritis severe enough to justify major surgery, which backs up everything you say about pain and limited movement on your form.

After surgery, recovery takes time, and there can be a long period where you still cannot walk far, manage stairs or wash and dress without help. If you are recovering from a replacement, describe your current abilities during recovery, not how you hope to be once you are fully healed. If your condition is expected to improve, PIP looks at whether the difficulties have lasted, and are likely to last, long enough to meet the rules, so include how long your recovery and limitations are expected to continue. We have a dedicated guide on PIP for knee and hip replacement if surgery is on the horizon for you.

Can You Claim PIP for Arthritis in Your Feet, Knees or Hips?

Yes, you can claim PIP for arthritis in your feet, because PIP looks at what the pain stops you doing rather than which joint is affected. Arthritis in the feet and ankles mostly affects Activity 12 (moving around): if on most days you can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres, that is descriptor 12c (8 points), or 12d (10 points) if you need a stick or other aid for that distance. Standing at the cooker and getting in and out of the bath can be affected too, so describe those as well.

Arthritis in the knee or hip usually affects walking, stairs, bending and getting on and off the toilet or in and out of the bath. Descriptors that often come into play are needing assistance to get in or out of a bath or shower (4e, 3 points), needing assistance to dress your lower body (6d, 2 points) and the walking descriptors in Activity 12. If you are waiting for a hip or knee replacement, the section above explains how to claim now.

If arthritis affects several joints, or you also have another condition such as rheumatoid arthritis or back pain, PIP looks at the combined effect of all of them. For other types of arthritis and how much PIP pays, see our guide to PIP for arthritis.

Evidence That Helps

You do not need a mountain of paperwork, and you will not be refused just because you cannot supply a particular document. The DWP can request your medical records. That said, a few well chosen pieces of evidence make it easier for an assessor to accept what you have written:

• GP letters or a printout of your records confirming your osteoarthritis, which joints are affected and your reported pain and limitations
• Rheumatology or orthopaedic letters describing the severity of your osteoarthritis and any planned treatment
• X-ray or scan reports showing the joint damage, bearing in mind that imaging is only part of the picture
• Your medication list showing painkillers, anti-inflammatories and any other treatment you rely on
• A referral letter for a hip or knee replacement, which is strong evidence that your osteoarthritis is severe
• Letters from family or carers describing the day to day help you need

Send copies, never originals, and only send what genuinely helps. A short, relevant set of documents is better than a thick bundle that buries the important points.

How to Describe Your Difficulties

The PIP2 form gives you space to explain, in your own words, how osteoarthritis affects each activity, and this is where claims are won or lost. Assessors and decision makers respond to concrete, specific detail. Vague answers invite the assumption that things are not that bad.

For each activity that osteoarthritis affects, try to cover three things: what happens when you try the task, how often it is like that and what the consequences are. Compare these two answers for dressing:

• Weak: "I struggle to get dressed because of my arthritis."
• Strong: "Because of osteoarthritis in both hips and my right knee, I cannot bend to reach my feet, so I cannot put on socks, tights or shoes without help. On most days my wife does this for me. Buttons take a long time because my fingers are stiff and painful, so I mostly wear pull on clothes. Getting dressed takes me around 20 to 25 minutes and leaves me in more pain."

Use real examples from real days. Mention any aids and adaptations you use, such as a long handled shoe horn, a perching stool, grab rails, easy grip cutlery or a walking stick, because needing an aid to complete a task scores points in its own right. Mention if you can only do something with help, or if doing it causes a flare of pain that stops you doing anything else for a while.

This is the part of the form most people find hardest, and it is exactly what PIPexpert is built for. You tell us, in plain words, how osteoarthritis affects you, and PIPexpert writes your PIP2 answers in the language the assessment actually scores, covering safety, reliability, time and the help you need for every activity. You can try it on a single activity completely free to see the difference before you commit to anything.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

A few patterns come up again and again with osteoarthritis claims, and avoiding them can make a real difference:

• Describing your best day. Many people instinctively put a brave face on and answer as if every day were a good one. Describe a typical bad day, and say how often bad days happen.
• Forgetting fluctuation. Stiffness is often worst first thing in the morning and after rest. If mornings are when you cannot wash or dress, say so clearly.
• Leaving out aids and help. If you use a stick, rails, a stool or help from another person, that is not a reason you do not qualify. It is evidence that you do.
• Treating it as "only" arthritis. Osteoarthritis is a recognised, progressive condition that can be genuinely disabling. Do not undersell it.
• Ignoring other conditions. If you have other health problems alongside osteoarthritis, include them. PIP looks at the combined effect of everything, not one condition in isolation.

Is Osteoarthritis a Disability in the UK?

It can be. Under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 you are disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Substantial means more than minor or trivial, and long-term means it has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months, so osteoarthritis that makes walking, gripping or dressing noticeably harder can meet that test. The Equality Act definition is separate from PIP: it protects you at work and when using services, but it does not decide a PIP claim, which is scored only on the activities and points described above. In Northern Ireland the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 uses the same test.

What Benefits Can You Claim for Osteoarthritis?

PIP is the main disability benefit for osteoarthritis if you are 16 or over and under State Pension age, and it is not means tested, so you can claim it while working. You cannot make a new claim for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as an adult, because new DLA claims are only open for children under 16 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; if you have reached State Pension age you would claim Attendance Allowance instead. In Scotland, Adult Disability Payment replaces PIP and Pension Age Disability Payment replaces Attendance Allowance. If osteoarthritis limits the work you can do, you may also be able to claim new style ESA or extra Universal Credit for a health condition, and someone who cares for you for at least 35 hours a week may be able to claim Carer's Allowance once you get the PIP daily living part. Our guide to how PIP affects other benefits explains how they fit together.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many PIP points can you get for osteoarthritis?

There is no fixed number, because PIP points come from how osteoarthritis affects each activity on more than half of days, not from the diagnosis. Descriptors that commonly come into play include needing an aid to prepare or cook a simple meal (2 points), needing assistance to get in or out of a bath or shower (3 points), needing assistance to dress your lower body (2 points) and walking more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres using an aid such as a stick (10 points). Points are added up per component: at least 8 give the standard rate and at least 12 the enhanced rate.

Is there an NHS calculator for PIP points?

No NHS tool decides your PIP points, because PIP is decided by the DWP (in Northern Ireland, the Department for Communities), not the NHS. In Scotland, Adult Disability Payment is decided by Social Security Scotland. NHS records such as X-ray reports, physiotherapy notes and GP notes are evidence that supports your answers. To estimate your own points across all 12 activities, use our free PIP points calculator.

My osteoarthritis is well controlled. Can I still claim?

Possibly. "Well controlled" usually means your pain is being managed, not that it has gone away. PIP does not look at your diagnosis or how well it is managed. It looks at what you can and cannot do safely, reliably and repeatedly. If you still struggle to cook, wash, dress or walk on most days, describe those difficulties. Many people with manageable osteoarthritis still meet the descriptors.

I am waiting for a hip or knee replacement. Can I claim now?

Yes. You do not need to wait for surgery to claim. The waiting period before a joint replacement is often when osteoarthritis is at its most disabling, with severe pain, very limited walking and difficulty with daily tasks. Claim based on how you are now. A referral letter for joint replacement is strong evidence that your osteoarthritis is severe.

Which joints count for PIP?

All of them, because PIP scores function rather than which joint is affected. Knee and hip osteoarthritis usually affects moving around, standing and stairs. Hand osteoarthritis affects gripping, preparing food, buttons and zips. Spinal osteoarthritis affects bending, reaching and sitting. What matters is how the affected joints stop you completing PIP activities, not the joint itself.

My X-ray looks mild but I am in a lot of pain. Does that matter?

It can. Osteoarthritis is well known for a poor match between X-ray changes and how much pain and disability someone has. Some people with mild changes have severe pain, and some with severe changes have little. PIP assesses your function, not your X-ray. Focus your form on what you cannot do safely, reliably and repeatedly, and let your GP confirm your reported pain and limitations.

Can I claim PIP for osteoarthritis if I am still working?

Yes. PIP is not means tested and is not affected by work or savings. It is paid because of how your condition affects you, not whether you have a job. Many people with osteoarthritis work while still struggling at home with cooking, washing, dressing and walking. If you push through pain at work and pay for it with bad days, describe that honestly on your form.

How do I describe my bad days?

Be specific and give examples rather than general statements. Instead of "some days are bad", write something like: "On a bad day, which is most days, my knees are too stiff and painful to get down the stairs without holding the rail and stopping halfway. I cannot stand at the worktop long enough to cook, so I eat cold food or a microwave meal. I need my partner to help me put on socks and shoes." Concrete detail is far more credible to an assessor.

Can you claim PIP for arthritis in your hands?

Yes, you can claim, and PIP looks at what your hands stop you doing rather than the diagnosis. Hand osteoarthritis mainly affects the activities that need grip and fine movement. It can make it difficult to hold a knife to chop food (Activity 1), turn taps or hold a sponge while washing (Activity 4) and do up buttons, zips and shoelaces (Activity 6). Describe dropping things, needing aids such as jar openers or easy-grip cutlery and any help you need from another person.