PIP is based on how a condition affects you, not the condition itself. Mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and PTSD can all qualify. This guide explains how they are assessed and how to prepare.
Which Mental Health Conditions Qualify?
PIP doesn’t have a list of qualifying conditions. Instead, it assesses the impact on your daily life. That said, successful claims are regularly made for:
- Depression (including severe/clinical depression)
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)
- Bipolar disorder
- Schizophrenia and psychotic disorders
- OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)
- Personality disorders (including BPD/EUPD)
- Eating disorders
- Agoraphobia and social anxiety
You can also claim for mental health conditions alongside physical conditions — the combined effect is considered.
How PIP Is Assessed
PIP looks at two components, each with specific activities:
Daily Living Component
| Activity | How Mental Health Can Affect It |
|---|---|
| Preparing food | Lack of motivation, inability to concentrate, fear of using cooker |
| Eating and drinking | Eating disorders, medication side effects, no appetite |
| Managing treatments | Forgetting medication, or needing someone to prompt or supervise it (for example because of a risk of overdose) |
| Washing and bathing | Depression making it impossible to shower, sensory issues |
| Managing toilet needs | Anxiety-related incontinence, inability to leave bed |
| Dressing | Can’t choose clothes, can’t be bothered, sensory difficulties |
| Reading and understanding | Concentration problems, cognitive fog from medication |
| Engaging with others | Social anxiety, paranoia, withdrawal |
| Making budgeting decisions | Impulsive spending (bipolar), inability to concentrate |
Mobility Component
| Activity | How Mental Health Can Affect It |
|---|---|
| Planning and following journeys | Anxiety about leaving the house, panic attacks, agoraphobia, paranoia, confusion from medication |
| Moving around | Extreme fatigue from depression, medication side effects, panic attacks causing inability to move |
Scoring and Payment Rates
Each activity is scored with descriptors worth from 0 up to a maximum of 6 to 12 points, depending on the activity:
Daily Living
| Points | Rate | Weekly Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 8–11 | Standard | £76.70 |
| 12+ | Enhanced | £114.60 |
Mobility
| Points | Rate | Weekly Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 8–11 | Standard | £30.30 |
| 12+ | Enhanced | £80.00 |
Maximum combined: £194.60/week (£10,119/year) — figures apply for 2026/27
Tips for a Successful Mental Health Claim
1. Describe Your Worst Days
The PIP form asks how you’re affected “most of the time” (more than 50% of the time). But don’t minimise — describe what happens on your worst days if they happen regularly.
Common mistake: Saying “I can cook a meal” when actually you can only manage toast on good days, and on bad days you can’t get out of bed.
2. Be Specific and Detailed
| Vague (Less Helpful) | Specific (More Helpful) |
|---|---|
| “I find it hard to go out” | “I have panic attacks if I leave the house alone. I’ve called 999 twice thinking I was having a heart attack. I haven’t been to a shop alone in 8 months” |
| “I struggle with motivation” | “I go 3-4 days without showering. My partner has to physically help me get dressed. I’ve worn the same clothes for a week because I couldn’t face changing” |
| “I forget things” | “I’ve missed my medication 3 times this week. I set 6 alarms and still forget. My CPN had to put my pills in a dosette box” |
3. Explain Variability
Mental health conditions fluctuate. Explain:
- How often you have bad days vs good days
- What triggers bad patches
- How long episodes last
- Whether you can predict when you’ll be affected
4. Include the Effect of Medication
Medication side effects count:
- Drowsiness/fatigue (can’t concentrate, can’t drive)
- Weight gain (affects mobility)
- Cognitive fog (affects budgeting, communication)
- Nausea
- Tremors
5. Don’t Rely on the Assessment Alone
The face-to-face (or telephone) assessment is only one part. Your written evidence often matters more.
Evidence to Gather
Medical Evidence (Most Powerful)
- GP letter describing your condition and its impact on daily life
- Psychiatrist/psychologist reports — diagnosis, treatment, prognosis
- Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) notes — if you’re under a CMHT
- Crisis team records — if you’ve been referred to crisis services
- Hospital records — A&E visits, inpatient stays
- Therapy records — CBT, counselling notes showing severity
Supporting Evidence
- Prescription records — medication list and dosage
- Carer’s statement — anyone who helps you can write about what they do
- Social worker reports — if you have a social worker
- Support worker notes — from any support services you use
- Daily diary — keep a 2–4 week record of how you’re affected each day
Requesting Evidence
Write to your GP/consultant explaining you’re applying for PIP and ask for a supporting letter. Specifically request they describe:
- Your diagnosis/diagnoses
- How long you’ve had the condition
- How it affects your daily functioning
- Your treatment and prognosis
Some GPs charge a fee for letters like this, so ask first.
The Assessment
What to Expect
- By phone, by video, at an assessment centre or at home
- Usually lasts about an hour
- Conducted by a health professional (not always a mental health specialist)
- They’ll ask about each daily living and mobility activity
- They may also make observations about your behaviour and presentation
Mental Health-Specific Tips
- Come as you usually are, and explain if today is not typical
- Take someone with you — they can add information and support you
- If you’re having a bad day, say so — or if it’s a good day, explain that
- It’s OK to cry, get anxious, or need breaks — this is all relevant evidence
- Don’t answer questions with just “yes” or “no” — explain the full picture
What “Reliability” Means in Practice
DWP must consider whether you can complete activities reliably: You can only be treated as able to do an activity if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time. Within a reasonable time: no more than twice as long as it would normally take someone without your condition. A descriptor applies if it's satisfied on over 50% of the days in the required period.
If your depression means three or four days a week you cannot get out of bed and manage basic self-care, you should score based on those days — even if on good days you are able to function.
Common mistakes claimants make on PIP forms:
- Describing what they can do on their best day
- Saying “I can do it” without explaining how much effort or pain it takes
- Not mentioning that they need prompting, encouragement, or help from someone else
- Not including the time something takes (e.g. “getting dressed takes me 45 minutes due to fatigue and low motivation”)
Always describe your worst days, not your best.
Relevant PIP Descriptors for Anxiety and Depression
Daily Living Activities
| Activity | How mental health applies |
|---|---|
| Preparing food | Difficulty planning, concentrating, using sharp implements safely when distressed; motivation affecting ability on low days |
| Managing treatments | Needing someone to prompt or supervise medication because of the cognitive effects of depression or a risk of self-harm |
| Communicating verbally | Anxiety affecting ability to speak clearly with unfamiliar people; selective mutism in severe anxiety |
| Reading and understanding signs | Concentration difficulties from depression |
| Engaging with other people | Social anxiety; inability to engage with unfamiliar people without overwhelming distress |
| Making decisions about money | Cognitive impairment affecting ability to budget or make financial decisions; anxiety about financial matters |
| Managing toilet needs | Some cases of severe anxiety or OCD with related hygiene concerns |
Mobility Activities
| Activity | How mental health applies |
|---|---|
| Planning and following a journey | Anxiety about unfamiliar routes or public transport; agoraphobia; panic attacks when out alone; inability to use public transport without severe distress |
| Moving around | Less commonly applicable, but low motivation in severe depression can affect ability to walk distances |
The Most Commonly Missed Points: Mental Health
1. The “Good Day” Trap
Assessors ask “can you do X?” — naturally, many claimants say “yes, sometimes.” But PIP is based on what you can do reliably and repeatedly, on more days than not. If anxiety means you cannot leave the house alone 4 days out of 7, you should say so clearly.
Say: “On most days I cannot do this. I can describe what happens on a typical bad day, and also what a good day looks like.”
2. Not Describing the Effort and Aftermath
For anxiety especially, what matters is not just whether you can complete an activity but at what cost. If you can go to the shops once a week but it takes hours of preparation, causes a panic attack, and leaves you exhausted and unable to function for the rest of the day — that matters.
3. Variability Is Strength, Not Weakness
Fluctuating conditions (which is most mental health conditions) are covered by PIP. If your condition varies, describe the range. The rules say a descriptor applies if it fits you on more than 50% of days.
4. Help You Actually Need vs Help You Currently Get
Many people with anxiety or depression cope by avoiding activities entirely — they do not leave the house, they do not cook complex meals, they have family do things for them. Avoidance counts as needing help. If you would need someone’s support or prompting to do an activity, that is a descriptor point even if you currently avoid the activity.
How Bipolar Phases Affect PIP Activities
The table below shows how each phase maps onto specific PIP descriptors.
| Activity | During depressive episode | During manic episode |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Preparing food | Too fatigued/unmotivated to cook | May not eat, impulsive eating, unsafe in kitchen |
| 3. Managing therapy | Forgetting medication, refusing treatment | May stop medication during manic high |
| 4. Washing and bathing | Neglecting personal care | May be hyperfocused or erratic |
| 5. Toilet needs | Sometimes relevant in severe depression | Generally unaffected |
| 6. Dressing | Neglecting to dress, low motivation | Disinhibited dressing/undressing |
| 7. Communicating | Withdrawn, low speech in severe depression | Racing speech; others cannot keep up |
| 9. Engaging with others | Social withdrawal, isolation | Disinhibition, inappropriate behaviour, paranoia |
| 10. Budgeting decisions | Passivity; bills unpaid | Overspending; financial decisions without insight |
| Mobility 1: Planning journeys | Unable to leave home in severe depression | Poor road safety judgement in mania |
Bipolar Disorder and Activity 10: Making Budgeting Decisions
This is one of the most impactful activities for bipolar disorder and is frequently underreported. It assesses whether you can manage everyday money decisions:
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| Needs prompting or assistance to make complex (longer-term) budgeting decisions | 2 |
| Needs prompting or assistance to make simple (day-to-day) budgeting decisions | 4 |
| Cannot make any budgeting decisions at all | 6 |
In a manic episode: A person may spend thousands in hours, take out loans without understanding the consequences, give money away impulsively, or gamble — this typically supports the higher-scoring descriptors, including “cannot make any budgeting decisions at all” if judgement is completely absent during episodes. In a depressive episode: Bills may go unpaid for months — this may support the “simple budgeting” descriptor if day-to-day money tasks are neglected.
Give specific examples: “In my last manic episode I spent £8,000 in 10 days and took out a £3,000 loan. I have a financial deputy/trusted person who controls access to my bank account during episodes.”
How PIP Assesses PTSD
PIP does not assess diagnoses — it assesses your ability to carry out 10 daily living activities and 2 mobility activities. PTSD commonly affects several of these:
Daily Living Activities Most Relevant to PTSD
| Activity | How PTSD may affect it | Points available |
|---|---|---|
| Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition | Needing reminders, prompting or supervision to take medication (appointments don’t count) | Up to 8 points |
| Making budgeting decisions | Difficulty with concentration, decision-making, and managing finances due to cognitive symptoms | Up to 6 points |
| Engaging with other people face to face | Social anxiety, hypervigilance, inability to initiate or sustain conversations with strangers | Up to 8 points |
| Communicating verbally | Difficulty expressing yourself during dissociative episodes or flashbacks | Up to 12 points |
Mobility Activities Relevant to PTSD
Activity 1 — Planning and following journeys: If PTSD causes you to avoid unfamiliar routes, public transport, or being in public spaces, you may be unable to plan or follow a journey without assistance. Being unable to follow an unfamiliar route without another person scores 10 points (standard rate); being unable to follow even a familiar route scores 12 (enhanced rate). Being unable to go on any journey because of overwhelming psychological distress scores 10.
Worked Example: James, 38, Complex PTSD
Worked examples on this page use 2026/27 rates.
James was diagnosed with complex PTSD following childhood trauma. He experiences frequent flashbacks, cannot use public transport, struggles to go to appointments alone, and finds budgeting overwhelming due to concentration difficulties.
- Daily living: 9 points (1 for needing prompts to take medication, 4 for needing social support to engage with people, 4 for needing help with simple budgeting decisions) → Standard daily living rate: £76.70/week
- Mobility: 10 points (cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person) → Standard mobility rate: £30.30/week
- Total PIP: £107.00/week = £5,564/year
If You’re Refused
Don’t give up. About two-thirds of PIP appeals decided at a tribunal hearing go in the claimant’s favour (all conditions; MoJ statistics, April to June 2026). Ask for a mandatory reconsideration first, within one month of the decision.
Free help with appeals:
- Citizens Advice — help with mandatory reconsideration and appeals
- Mind — mental health-specific benefits advice
- Rethink Mental Illness — advice line for people with mental illness
- BenefitsAndWork — detailed guides on PIP descriptors (small subscription)