The Short Answer
A PIP assessment for a mental health condition covers the same twelve activities as any other assessment. Two of them are described in the DWP guidance as designed for limitations deriving from mental health, cognitive and learning impairments: engaging with other people, and planning and following journeys. Seven more score through prompting and supervision descriptors. What is assessed is function on an ordinary day, not distress at the appointment.
What the Assessment Covers
The full twelve activities, weighted differently rather than reduced. A mental health claim is not assessed against a shorter list, and treating it as though it were is the most common reason points are missed.
| Activity group | What is asked |
|---|---|
| Engaging with other people | Whether prompting or social support is needed, or engagement is not possible |
| Planning and following journeys | Whether routes can be planned and followed, and whether distress prevents journeys |
| Preparing food, taking nutrition | Whether prompting or supervision is needed to cook or to eat |
| Washing, dressing | Whether prompting or supervision is needed, and how often the task does not happen |
| Managing medication | Who keeps track of doses, and whether a condition is monitored |
| Making budgeting decisions | Whether bills and everyday costs can be managed |
Last checked: 7 August 2026
The DWP assessment guide states the design intent for two of them directly: engaging with other people "is designed for limitations on social engagement deriving from mental health, cognitive and learning impairments", and planning and following journeys "is designed for limitations on mobility deriving from mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments".
The Definitions That Decide the Highest Descriptors
Two defined terms carry the top of the scale, and both are narrow. Overwhelming psychological distress means, in the guide's words, "distress related to a mental health condition or intellectual or cognitive impairment which results in a severe anxiety state in which the symptoms are so severe that the person is unable to function". Social support means support from a person trained or experienced in helping with social engagement, which family and friends can provide.
The gap between prompting and social support is worth two points, and it turns on whether the person is needed before the interaction or during it. Being reminded to attend is prompting; needing someone present so that the interaction happens at all is social support.
What Is Assessed, and What Is Not
Function on an ordinary day, not presentation at the appointment. The DWP assessment guide requires consideration of whether an activity can be repeated "within a reasonable period of time and to the same standard", naming anxiety among the symptoms that bear on it. Managing an hour-long assessment is not evidence of managing a supermarket, a phone call to a utility company or a week of appointments.
Where an assessment goes better than an ordinary day, say so during it. Where someone came with you, say what they normally do rather than only that they came. Where the appointment will cost you the rest of the day, that is relevant to the repeatability test and is worth stating plainly.
The assessment also does not evaluate treatment choices. Declining a particular medication or therapy is not scored, and neither is being between services. What is scored is the difficulty that exists now.
Evidence That Answers the Descriptors
Records of what happens, rather than records of what you have. GOV.UK sets the frequency test as expecting "to have difficulty more than half of the days over a 12-month period", which is a question about days rather than about diagnosis. A descriptor applies where it is satisfied on more than half of the days, and clinical letters rarely record frequency. A diagnosis letter establishes the condition, which is rarely the point in dispute.
The documents that move a mental health assessment are narrower: a care plan naming the support provided, a record of crisis team or hospital contact, a statement from a support worker or family member describing what they do and how often, and a dated log of days on which an activity did not happen without prompting. Four to six weeks of log entries is usually enough to show a pattern.
Send copies with the PIP2 form where you have them, and send anything later as it arrives. Evidence can be added after the form is returned and up to the decision.
Preparing for the Appointment
Write the typical day down before the call, activity by activity. Reliability is what the account has to reach: regulation 4 of the PIP Regulations 2013 requires an activity to be done safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period. Nine of the twelve activities can score on mental health grounds, so a note that covers only engagement and journeys leaves points unaddressed. Recall under pressure is itself affected by many of the conditions being assessed, and a written note removes that variable.
The check pip assessment hub covers the formats and the general preparation. The condition-specific guidance on claiming, evidence and awards is on the check pip for mental health page.
Work Out What the Activities Score
The points and the rate follow from which descriptors apply, and that is worth knowing before the appointment rather than after the decision. The Mental Health PIP Calculator scores the nine activities a mental health claim commonly reaches, using the descriptors exactly as Schedule 1 sets them out.