What is Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is money for people who have extra care needs or mobility needs (difficulty getting around) as a result of a disability.

There are two parts called components:

• The daily living component, and

• The mobility component.

You may qualify for one or both of them.

PIP is replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16 - pension age. 

This guide gives an overview of PIP.  

Listed below are some more guides which may help you if you are claiming PIP:

Claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – A step-by-step guide to claiming PIP, including tips for the claim form and the assessment. 

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Test – A guide to the rules for getting PIP, including how many points you can get in the PIP Test.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Other Help – A guide to the other help you can get when you get PIP, including Motability, travel concessions and extra amounts of other benefits.

Challenging a Personal Independence Payment decision – A step-by-step guide for sorting out a wrong decision.

Age rules: You must be 16 or over but under 66 when you first claim.

Applies to: England, Wales and Northern Ireland

If you live in Scotland and want to make a new claim for a disability benefit, the claim will be for Adult Disability Payment Scotland.

If you have a child under 16 with an illness, injury or disability, see Disability Living Allowance - children.

If you are over State Pension age, see Attendance Allowance

Type of benefit: Non means tested

Taxable: No

Administered by: Disability and Carers Service, Department for Work and Pensions

Can I get Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?

You may be entitled to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if you have daily living and/or mobility needs.

Unless you are terminally ill or you are transferring onto PIP from Disability Living Allowance (DLA), your needs must:

• Have lasted for the past three months, and
• Be expected to continue for the next nine months

Daily living needs

You may have daily living needs if your disability or health condition means you need help doing these things to look after yourself:

• Make food or cook
• Eat and drink
• Take your medication
• Do your treatment
• Wash and bathe
• Go to toilet
• Dress and undress
• Speak
• Read and understand
• Socialise
• Handle money

It doesn't matter whether you actually get the help you need.

Help can include things like encouraging or reminding you to do something.

Mobility needs

You may have mobility needs if you need help to get around outside your home independently.

For example, you may count as having mobility needs if you need help to plan and follow a journey because of a learning difficulty, a mental health issue or a sensory impairment.

You may count as having mobility needs if you have difficulty walking or are unable to walk.

What help counts

You count as needing help to do an activity if you need a person or a thing to:

• Do it for you
• Do it with you
• Remind you to do it
• Watch you do it to keep you safe

You may count as needing help if you need help but do not actually get it. For example, if you do an activity yourself but:

• It isn’t safe
• You can’t do it well enough
• You can’t do it often enough
• It takes you a long time.

Find out if you qualify

To qualify for PIP, you have to score enough points on the PIP test for daily living or mobility (or both). For more information about when points are given, check out our Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Test guide.

How much Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will I get?

The amount of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) that you get depends on how many points you score in the PIP test for daily living and the PIP test for mobility. 

Daily living component

If you have daily living needs, you may qualify for the daily living component. There are two rates:

• Standard £68.10 per week
• Enhanced £101.75 per week

You get the standard rate if you score between eight and 11 points for your daily living needs in the PIP test. You get the enhanced rate if you score 12 points or more. 

You automatically qualify for the enhanced rate of the daily living component if you are terminally ill. 

If someone cares for you and you receive the daily living component, they might qualify for Carer’s Allowance. 

Mobility component

If you have mobility needs, you may qualify for the mobility component. There are two rates:

• Standard £26.90 per week
• Enhanced £71.00 per week

You get the standard rate if you score between eight and 11 points for your mobility needs in the PIP test. You get the enhanced rate if you score 12 points or more. 

Find out if you qualify

Check out our Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Test guide to find out what you can score points for.

PIP and other benefits

Your PIP does not count as income for other benefits. 

You are exempt from the Benefit Cap if you or your partner is receiving PIP. The Benefit Cap limits the total amount in some benefits that working-age people can receive. You can read more in our Benefit Cap guide.

If someone cares for you and you receive the daily living component, they might qualify for Carer’s Allowance. 

If you get PIP, you could also get other help. Read our Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Other Help guide to find out about other help you can get when you get PIP, including Motability, travel concessions and extra amounts of other benefits.

Additional amount

If you get PIP, you also qualify for a Christmas Bonus which is £10 each year. The Christmas Bonus is paid automatically and it does not affect any other benefits which you may be receiving. 

How do I claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?

This page gives an overview of claiming PIP.

For more detail about each stage, click on the sections below or see our Claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) guide.  

Start your PIP claim

Call the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to start your claim for PIP.

In England or Wales:

• Telephone 0800 917 2222
• Textphone 0800 917 7777

In Northern Ireland:

• Telephone 0800 012 1573
• Textphone 0800 587 0937

Get documents for your PIP claim

Start getting the documents that you want to put with your claim. You may want to get your medical records or letters from people who help you.

Write your name and national insurance (NI) number on all the documents you send with the form.

Only send copies of your documents, not originals.

Fill out your PIP form

Take your time to fill out the form and ask the DWP for more time if you need it. Get help to do it if it’s too much for you on your own. Put in as much as you can about how your health affects what you can do by yourself.

The DWP is introducing a digital form which you fill in online.

Send your PIP form

If you're using a paper form, this has an address on the back page. Use the envelope or the address on the form to send your form to the DWP with any documents you have. Try to send your form in on time.  

Go to medical assessment

You will hear from Independent Assessment Services or Capita to arrange a medical assessment.

You might be:

• asked to go to an appointment at an assessment centre, or

• invited to have your assessment over the phone or by video call.

You can take someone with you. It is important that you go, unless you have a good reason not to. If you cannot go, you need to tell the assessment provider why you can't go and ask them to move the appointment or arrange an assessment that accommodates your disability needs.

You can request your assessment to be recorded. You need to ask the health professional at the start of your assessment. 

Get decision

The DWP will send you a letter telling you whether you qualify for PIP. If you disagree with the decision, you may want to challenge it.

Get paid

If you qualify for PIP, you normally get it for a fixed amount of time. Awards can be made for periods between one and ten years depending on when the DWP think it is likely that your needs may change. Payments are usually made every four weeks into your bank account.  

Report changes

It is important that you tell the DWP if and when anything changes which might affect your entitlement to PIP. If your health is getting worse or better, the DWP may want to reassess you to check you are getting the right amount. You can call the PIP enquiry line on 0800 121 4433, textphone 0800 121 4493.

Renew your PIP claim

The DWP will contact you in the last year of your PIP claim about review or renewal. Or you can ask to renew yourself in the last 6 months of your claim. You will need to complete another form and go to another medical assessment.

From December 2022, the DWP will automatically extend PIP claims that are about to end and haven't been reviewed. If your claim ends before December 2022, and you haven't heard from the DWP, you should contact them and ask for your claim to be extended. 

Award ends

If you qualify for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), you usually get an award for a fixed amount of time:

• One year (if your condition is likely to change)
• Two years
• Three years
• Five years
• Ten years

How long your award is depends on how likely it is that your needs will change over time. You will be contacted in the last year of your award to renew your claim.

Light touch reviews

Light touch reviews apply if you:

• are over pension age, or
• have a severe, lifelong condition and get the enhanced rate of both daily living and mobility components 

If light touch reviews apply to you, your PIP will only be reviewed every 10 years and the review will be simpler.

Award reviewed

Your award of PIP may be reviewed by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) at any time, even if you have an award for a fixed amount of time.

When the DWP reviews your claim, you will be sent a letter with a PIP review form. The letter will ask you to complete and return the PIP review form before the date on the letter. If you don’t send the form back in time, the DWP will stop your claim unless you have a good reason for sending it in late. You will need to tell them why you sent the form late.

When the DWP receives your PIP review form, they will decide whether your PIP claim should stop or continue.

Something changes

Your award of PIP might change if something in your life changes. For example, if your health gets better, your PIP may go down or stop. If your health gets worse, your PIP may go up.  

It is up to you to tell the DWP when your condition gets better or worse. If you don’t tell the DWP at the time, you could miss out on benefits that you are entitled to or you could be overpaid benefits that you would have to pay back. If you don't tell the DWP about changes when you should, you may be investigated for fraud.

If you are an appointee for someone claiming PIP, for example you claimed PIP on behalf of your disabled child, you have responsibility for the claim. That means you must update the DWP about any changes.

Hospital

If you are 18 or over, your PIP stops after you have been a patient in hospital for 28 days in a row. It starts again after you are discharged from hospital. 

Read our Benefits when in hospital guide

Care Home

The daily living component of your PIP stops after you have been living in a care home for 28 days. It starts again if and when you leave to live independently.  

The mobility component of PIP continues to be paid as normal however long you live in a care home. 

Read our Benefits when in a care home guide

Getting Older

Getting older does not stop your PIP award but it can stop you from renewing your claim or making a new claim.

If you are over State Pension age and you want your PIP to continue, make sure you renew your claim when your current award ends.

If you are over State Pension age and your last award of PIP ended over a year ago, you cannot renew your claim or make a new claim. You may be able to claim Attendance Allowance instead but this does not include a mobility component. 

How do I challenge a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decision?

This page gives an overview of challenging a PIP decision.

For more about each stage, click on the sections below or see our Challenging a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decision guide.  

Check decision

If you don’t understand the decision, you can ask the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to explain it. Contact them using the details on the decision letter. 

If you don’t know if the decision is right, you can check whether you qualify for PIP:

• Look at our Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Test guide to find out what you can score points for
• Do the PIP self test on the Benefits and Work website

Ask for Mandatory Reconsideration

If you disagree with the DWP’s decision, you can ask them to look at it again and to change it. A Mandatory Reconsideration is when the DWP look at their decision again and decide whether to change it.

The best way to ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration is to write to the DWP at the address on your decision letter. You normally have one month from the date you got your decision letter to ask for Mandatory Reconsideration.

Get Mandatory Reconsideration Notice

Once the DWP has looked again at the decision, they will send you a Mandatory Reconsideration Notice. The Mandatory Reconsideration Notice will tell you if the decision has been changed or it stays the same.

Appeal to Tribunal

If you disagree with the Mandatory Reconsideration Notice, you can appeal to a Tribunal. The Tribunal is separate to the DWP. 

To appeal, you have to fill out an SSCS1 form and send it to the Tribunal (at the address in the form) with one copy of your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice. You normally only have one month from the date you get your Mandatory Reconsideration Notice to appeal. 

You can also submit your appeal online.

When will I move from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP)?

If you already get Disability Living Allowance (DLA), you will have to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) instead unless:

• You were born before 8 April 1948
• You are under 16 years old (under 18 in Scotland).

When will I have to claim PIP instead of DLA?

You will have to claim PIP instead of DLA when:

• you turn 16 years old (18 in Scotland)
• you tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) about a change in your care or mobility needs
• you are asked to claim PIP by the DWP

If you get DLA and your claim has an end date, you will be asked to claim PIP before your DLA ends.

If you get DLA but your claim does not have an end date, you can be asked to claim PIP at any time after September 2017. 

What happens when I claim PIP instead of DLA?

The DWP will contact you and ask you to make a claim for PIP.  

When the DWP asks you to make a claim for PIP, you have four weeks to start your PIP claim. If you start your PIP claim within four weeks, your DLA will keep being paid until your PIP claim has been decided.

If you do not start your PIP claim within four weeks, your DLA payments will stop. The DWP will ask you again to claim PIP and give you another four weeks. If you start your PIP claim before the final deadline, your DLA will be paid again until your PIP claim has been decided.

If you do not start your PIP claim before the final deadline, your DLA claim will be closed.

You can find out more about claiming PIP in our Claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) guide.