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Check if you’re eligible for PIP
You might be able to get Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if you need extra help because of an illness, disability or mental health condition. You can make a PIP claim whether or not you get help from anyone.
You don’t need to have worked or paid National Insurance to qualify for PIP, and it doesn’t matter what your income is, if you have any savings or you’re working.
Check the main eligibility rules
To get PIP you must find it hard to do everyday tasks or get around because of a physical or mental condition. You must have found these things hard for 3 months and expect them to continue to be hard for another 9 months.
You must be living in England or Wales when you apply – unless you or a close family member are in the armed forces.
You must be at least 16 years old to get PIP.
Your illness, disability or mental health condition
PIP is not based on the condition you have or the medication you take. It is based on the level of help you need because of how your condition affects you.
You’re assessed on the level of help you need with specific activities. It’s hard to say if the level of help you need will qualify you for PIP. But, if you get or need help with any of the following because of your condition, you should consider applying:
- preparing and cooking food
- eating and drinking
- managing your treatments
- washing and bathing
- managing toilet needs or incontinence
- dressing and undressing
- communicating with other people
- reading and understanding written information
- mixing with others
- making decisions about money
- planning a journey or following a route
- moving around
The help you get may be from a person, an aid (such as a walking stick or guide dog) or an adaptation to your home or car.
How to claim PIP
There are 3 stages to claiming PIP:
- Contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and fill in the PIP1 form – they can do this for you over the phone
- Fill in the ‘How your disability affects you’ form – you can choose to get a paper form by post or get an email with a link to an online form
- Go to a medical assessment
It can take up to 6 months from when you first contact the DWP to when you get your first payment. If the DWP decide you can get PIP, they’ll pay you the money you should have got from the date you started your claim.
Contacting the DWP
It’s best to start your claim by calling the DWP – it’s quicker than writing to them. If they decide you can get PIP, they’ll pay you the money you should have got from the date you called them.
You’ll need to have this information when you call the DWP:
- your full name, address and phone number
- your National Insurance number
- your bank or building society account details
- contact details of your GP or other health professionals you deal with
- the dates and details of any stays in hospital or residential care
- your nationality or immigration status
- if you’ve been abroad for more than 4 weeks at a time in the last 3 years (you’ll need the dates and details)
Personal Independence Payment claim line
Telephone: 0800 917 2222
Getting evidence to support your PIP claim
It’s useful to include evidence from health professionals on how your condition affects you. It can give the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) a clearer picture of how your condition affects you and give you a better chance of being properly assessed.
Evidence could be a letter, report or care plan, and you can send it any time before the DWP makes a decision on your claim.
Keeping a PIP diary
If your condition fluctuates (you have good and bad days) it can be helpful to keep a diary. A diary is a handy way to record your bad days and how they affected you. You could use a diary as evidence as well as use it to help you fill in your ‘How your disability affects you’ form. To help you, you can use our template diary. You can also ask someone to help you write it.
What to ask health professionals for
When you contact the health professional, tell them that you’re making a claim for PIP and ask them to provide a letter explaining how your condition affects you. It’s important to do this because PIP is based on how your condition affects you and not the condition itself or the medication you take.