How to Describe Your Condition on the PIP Form

DWP doesn't score your diagnosis — it scores what you can't do reliably

The biggest mistake people make on the PIP2 is writing about their medical condition instead of their daily life. Telling the DWP you have rheumatoid arthritis, depression, or COPD tells them nothing about whether you qualify. What matters is how the condition stops you from completing specific activities safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time.

The PIP2 form has open text boxes for each of the 12 activities. These boxes are where your claim is built — or undermined.

The four things every answer should cover

For each activity, the decision maker applies the reliability test from Regulation 4(2A) of the PIP Regulations. Your answer needs to address:

1. Safety — Can you do the activity without risking harm to yourself or someone else? Have you burned yourself cooking, fallen in the shower, or wandered into the road because you couldn't judge traffic?
2. Acceptable standard — Is the outcome adequate? If you can dress yourself but end up with clothes inside-out or inappropriate for the weather because you can't process the choices, that isn't an acceptable standard.
3. Repeatedly — Can you do it as many times as a person normally needs to during the day? If you can cook one meal but are too exhausted to prepare anything else, you can't do it repeatedly.
4. Reasonable time — Does it take you more than twice as long as someone without your condition?

Each descriptor applies only if you can complete the activity in the way it describes safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time.

What good descriptions look like

Weak: "I find cooking difficult because of my condition."

Strong: "On about five days out of seven, the pain and stiffness in my hands means I cannot grip a saucepan handle safely. I have dropped a pan of boiling water twice in the last six months. I use a perching stool at the worktop because standing for more than three minutes makes me dizzy. Even using the microwave, it takes me about 25 minutes to heat and plate a simple ready meal — my partner says it would take her five minutes. On the two better days a week, I can manage a microwave meal without help, but I still cannot use the hob safely."

That answer hits all four reliability tests, gives concrete frequency, names the aid (perching stool), and distinguishes between typical days and better days.

Describing fluctuating conditions

Many conditions — fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, multiple sclerosis, anxiety, depression, Crohn's disease — fluctuate unpredictably. Regulation 7 selects descriptors based on how often they are satisfied over the required 12-month period: a descriptor met on more than half the days applies; if two or more each meet that test, the highest-scoring applies; if none does but non-zero descriptors together cover more than half the days, the most frequently met applies, with a higher score breaking a tie.

You don't need to be affected every day. If your bad days outnumber your good ones, describe both:

• How many days per week you experience the difficulty
• What happens on those days specifically
• What a better day looks like and how often those happen
• Whether a run of good days is followed by a crash (relevant for ME/CFS post-exertional malaise)

A 2–4 week symptom diary submitted alongside your form is strong supporting evidence for fluctuating conditions. Record what you attempted, what went wrong, what help you needed, and how you felt afterwards.

Activities that trip people up

Activity 3 — Managing therapy: This isn't just about medication. If someone prompts you to take your tablets, helps you apply cream, monitors your blood sugar, or assists with physiotherapy exercises, that counts. The time thresholds matter here: needing help for more than 3.5 and up to 7 hours a week scores 4 points; more than 7 and up to 14 hours scores 6.

Activity 9 — Engaging with people face to face: This covers social interaction, not just conversation. If anxiety, autism, or PTSD means you need prompting or support to interact appropriately, or you can't engage at all due to severe distress, the descriptors can score up to 8 points.

Activity 11 — Planning and following journeys: This is a cognitive and psychological test, not just physical. If overwhelming anxiety stops you leaving the house, or you cannot plan a route to an unfamiliar place without help, the points can reach 10 or 12.

Get a structured framework for every activity

The PIP Claim Guide for England and Wales includes drafting prompts for all 12 activities, built around the reliability criteria. It helps you describe your daily life accurately and completely — without exaggeration and without underselling the difficulties you actually face.

See more England and Wales guides →