PIP Decoded
Personal Independence Payment, in plain English

PIP daily living activities

Cooking utensils in an old kitchen at Glastonbury.
Cooking utensils in a kitchen. Preparing food is the first of the ten daily living activities. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Kitchen utensils.
Kitchen utensils. Daily living covers ordinary tasks from cooking and eating to washing, dressing and managing medication. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
A page from an old first reader.
A page from a first reader. Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words is one of the ten daily living activities. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

The daily living component covers ten everyday activities. Each one is scored separately, and only your highest-scoring descriptor in each activity counts towards the component total. The activities are:

  1. Preparing food. Making a simple meal from fresh ingredients: peeling, chopping, using a hob or oven, and doing so safely. Needing someone to do it, or needing aids and supervision, scores here.
  2. Taking nutrition. Eating and drinking: cutting food, bringing it to your mouth, chewing and swallowing, and needing prompting, help, or a feeding tube.
  3. Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition. Taking medication, managing treatments such as dialysis or oxygen, and monitoring a condition such as diabetes — including needing supervision or prompting to do it reliably.
  4. Washing and bathing. Washing your body, bathing or showering, and getting in and out of a bath or shower, with or without aids, help, or supervision.
  5. Managing toilet needs or incontinence. Using the toilet, managing incontinence, and cleaning yourself afterwards, including needing help, aids, or supervision.
  6. Dressing and undressing. Choosing clothes, putting them on and taking them off, including footwear, and needing help, aids, or extra time to do it.
  7. Communicating verbally. Speaking and being understood, and understanding what others say — including needing communication aids or another person's help.
  8. Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words. Reading written words, signs and symbols, from a short sign to a longer passage, with or without aids.
  9. Engaging with other people face to face. Mixing with others, understanding social cues, and behaving appropriately — including needing prompting or support because of overwhelming distress or difficulty reading social situations.
  10. Making budgeting decisions. Managing money: working out costs, paying bills, and making decisions about spending, including needing prompting or help to do it.

Two cautions apply to the whole list. First, the question is always what you can do reliably — safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and in a reasonable time — on most days. Second, the descriptors reward help and aids honestly described: saying you manage alone when you regularly need help scores lower than the truth, and assessors are entitled to test what you say against your evidence.

Sources

Official sources for the figures on this page: GOV.UK — Personal Independence Payment; nidirect — Personal Independence Payment (Northern Ireland); DWP — Annual Benefits Statistics Compendium 2026.

General information only. This page explains Personal Independence Payment in plain English. It is not legal, financial, or medical advice, and it cannot decide whether you qualify. Only the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) — or the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland — can decide a claim. Rates and rules change over time; always confirm the current position with GOV.UK before you act on it. Contact: hello [at] tapetoolhq.com.