The Short Answer
ADHD scores PIP points through the functions it affects, which the assessment calls cognitive rather than executive. The guidance defines cognitive impairment as including attention, concentration and memory. Those functions are assessed under budgeting decisions, planning and following journeys, managing medication and preparing food. Eight points in a component pays the standard rate and 12 pays the enhanced rate. The calculator above scores the seven activities involved.
How ADHD Scores PIP Points
Seven activities carry most ADHD claims, and none of them is called executive function. The table sets out what each activity assesses, the descriptors that turn on the functions an ADHD claim describes, and what those descriptors are worth.
| Activity | What it assesses | Descriptors typically engaged | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily living 10 — Making budgeting decisions | making simple and complex budgeting decisions, which turns on cognitive function | b, c, d | 2–6 |
| Mobility 1 — Planning and following journeys | planning and following journeys, where the limitation derives from attention, concentration and memory | b, c | 4–8 |
| Daily living 9 — Engaging with other people face to face | engaging with other people face to face, including whether prompting or social support is needed | b, c, d | 2–8 |
| Daily living 3 — Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition | managing medication and monitoring a health condition at home | b | 1 |
| Daily living 1 — Preparing food | preparing and cooking a simple meal, including where prompting or supervision is needed | d, e | 2–4 |
| Daily living 2 — Taking nutrition | taking nutrition, where an underlying condition affects the ability to remember to eat | d | 4 |
| Daily living 8 — Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words | reading and understanding written information, where the limitation arises from cognitive impairment | c, d | 2–4 |
Last checked: 7 August 2026
Where this mapping comes from
Descriptor letters and point values are reproduced from Schedule 1 of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013. The activities listed are the ones whose published assessment guidance names the functions this condition is reported to affect. No activity is listed on any other basis.
Activities are numbered as Schedule 1 numbers them, within each component: daily living 1 to 10 and mobility 1 to 2.
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 10: “The age of the person or whether they have ever done any household budgeting is irrelevant - it is their ability to make budgeting decisions and their level of cognitive function that is relevant.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 11: “This activity is designed for limitations on mobility deriving from mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments, whereas activity 12 is generally designed for limitations from physical problems. Cognitive impairment includes orientation (understanding of where, when and who the person is), attention, concentration and memory.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 9: “This activity is designed for limitations on social engagement deriving from mental health, cognitive and learning impairments.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 3: “Examples of therapy include physiotherapy, home dialysis and special diets where both attention to the nature and timing of food is integral in the management of the diet.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 1: “If an individual cannot cook at all because they have never needed to learn, consider their ability to carry out activities at or above waist height and their cognitive ability to use a stove or microwave if shown how.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 2: “The frequency of taking nutrition should only be considered if the claimant has an underlying condition which affects their ability to remember to eat, or their motivation to eat e.g. dementia or severe clinical depression or an eating disorder.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 8: “If the claimant cannot read, this must be as a direct result of their health condition or impairment e.g. visual impairment, cognitive impairment, learning disability.”
Budgeting decisions is the row worth reading twice. Needing prompting or assistance for complex budgeting scores 2 points; needing it for simple budgeting scores 4. The guide draws the line between calculating household budgets and paying bills on one side, and working out the cost of goods and the change due on the other. The PIP points calculator scores all 12 activities.
Can You Get PIP for ADHD?
Yes, where ADHD limits the assessed activities on more than half of the days over a 12-month period. ADHD does not appear in the PIP regulations, and neither does any other condition. What the regulations describe is function, and the assessment guide names the relevant functions: cognitive impairment "includes orientation (understanding of where, when and who the person is), attention, concentration and memory".
A diagnosis made in adulthood does not weaken a claim. The duration test asks whether the difficulties are expected to last at least 12 months from when they started, and a lifelong condition diagnosed late satisfies that on its history rather than on the date of the report.
What Rate Could ADHD Get?
The rate follows the points in each component separately. Daily living pays £76.70 a week at the standard rate and £114.60 at the enhanced rate. Mobility pays £30.30 and £80.00.
Last checked: 6 August 2026
A claim scoring 4 points for simple budgeting, 4 for social support and 1 for medication reaches 9 daily living points, which pays the standard rate. The journeys activity is scored separately and adds to mobility, not to that total. Points never cross between the two components.
Executive Function and the Descriptors It Maps To
ADHD claims are usually described in terms of executive function, and the assessment has no descriptor with that name. The functions are assessed instead under activity 10 for decisions about money, planning and following journeys for a route, activity 3 for taking medication on time, and activity 1 for the sequencing a meal requires. Naming the activity rather than the concept is what turns a description into points.
The guidance on planning and following journeys defines the ground directly: cognitive impairment "includes orientation (understanding of where, when and who the person is), attention, concentration and memory". The descriptor "cannot plan the route of a journey" scores 8 points and is a planning descriptor rather than a distress descriptor — it does not require psychological distress to apply.
Activity 10 is where the highest-value ADHD evidence usually sits. The guide defines complex budgeting decisions as "calculating household and personal budgets, managing and paying bills and planning future purchases", and simple budgeting decisions as "calculating the cost of goods and change required following purchases". Descriptor 10b scores 2 points for the first, descriptor 10c scores 4 for the second.
Medication is a second common mismatch. Taking a prescribed stimulant does not itself score, because descriptor 3a covers managing medication unaided. Descriptor 3b, worth 1 point, applies where supervision, prompting or assistance is needed to manage it — a distinction that rests on who keeps track of doses, not on what is prescribed.
Evidence That Supports an ADHD Claim
Consequences make better evidence than symptoms. Missed appointments, arrears and disconnected utilities describe the descriptors directly; a symptom list describes the diagnosis, which is not the question. The assessment guide defines cognitive impairment as including "attention, concentration and memory", so records showing the consequences of those functions failing are the ones that reach a descriptor.
- The diagnostic assessment report from the service that made the diagnosis
- A shared-care agreement or repeat prescription list covering ADHD medication
- Letters from an adult ADHD service, psychiatrist or specialist nurse
- Records of missed appointments, missed payments or arrears that show the effect rather than the diagnosis
- A workplace or university needs assessment, or a reasonable-adjustments record
- A written statement from a person who prompts or supervises tasks, describing what they do and how often
Send what you already have rather than waiting for a new report. Evidence describing what you can do on an ordinary day answers the descriptors; the assessment weighs it against the reliability criteria.
Work Out the Full Picture
The tool above is pre-filtered; the assessment is not. All 12 activities are scored — 10 for daily living and 2 for mobility, set out in Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013 — and points from the two components never combine.
ADHD claims often extend past the seven activities above, particularly where another condition is present. Two tools finish the picture:
- Score every activity in the PIP points calculator, which uses the same verbatim descriptors.
- Compare the pre-filtered tools on the all condition calculators page.
Where an award has already been made and backdated, the work out your pip back pay tool prices the arrears.
Related guidance: check pip for adhd.