The Short Answer
Hearing Loss scores PIP points through the activities it limits, not through the diagnosis. The assessment turns on whether communication support is needed, which scores far more than an aid does. Eight points in a component pays the standard rate and 12 pays the enhanced rate. The calculator above is pre-filtered to the activities whose published guidance names the functions hearing loss is reported to affect.
How Hearing Loss Scores PIP Points
Each activity below is on the list for a stated reason, and the source is quoted beneath the table. Descriptor letters and point values come verbatim from Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013, and the 8 and 12-point thresholds come from regulations 5(3) and 6(3).
| Activity | What it assesses | Descriptors typically engaged | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily living 7 — Communicating verbally | communicating verbally, including where an aid or communication support is needed to express or understand speech | b, c, d | 2–8 |
| Daily living 9 — Engaging with other people face to face | engaging with other people face to face, where prompting or social support is needed | b, c | 2–4 |
| Daily living 4 — Washing and bathing | washing and bathing safely, where an alarm cannot be heard and a visual alternative is needed | b, f | 2–4 |
| Mobility 1 — Planning and following journeys | planning and following journeys, where announcements, traffic or instructions cannot be heard | b, d | 4–10 |
| Daily living 8 — Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words | reading and understanding written information, where written English is a second language after sign | c | 2 |
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 7: “For example, a deaf person who cannot communicate verbally and does not use sign language might need communication support to support them in another way even if they do not routinely have such help.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 9: “Social support means support from another person trained or experienced in assisting people to engage in social situations or someone directly experienced in supporting the claimant themselves (for example a family member or carer).”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 4: “A deaf or hearing impaired claimant, who is not able to hear a standard fire alarm while washing or bathing, may need a visual alarm to alert them to the risk of fire, in order to wash or bathe safely.”
- 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 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.”
Points are added within each component, never across the two. The PIP points calculator scores all 12 activities where the picture is wider than the ones above.
Can You Get PIP for Hearing Loss?
Yes, where hearing loss limits the assessed activities on more than half of the days over a 12-month period. No condition qualifies by name, and none is excluded by name either. The two tests are duration — difficulties expected to last at least 12 months from when they started — and frequency, which GOV.UK states as difficulty "more than half of the days over a 12-month period".
What Rate Could Hearing Loss 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, and the highest combined award is £194.60 a week.
Last checked: 6 August 2026
For this condition the points most often come from communicating verbally, where communication support for basic verbal information scores 8 points.
Why Communication Support Is Worth More Than an Aid
The communicating verbally activity separates devices from people, and the gap is large. Needing an aid or appliance to speak or hear scores 2 points; needing communication support to express or understand complex verbal information scores 4, and basic verbal information scores 8. Hearing aids that leave a conversation unfollowable in any background noise do not close the gap they are assumed to close.
The guidance addresses sign language users directly: "a deaf person who cannot communicate verbally and does not use sign language might need communication support to support them in another way even if they do not routinely have such help". The test is the support reasonably needed, not the support currently funded.
Safety is a scoring route that hearing loss claims routinely miss. The guide gives the worked example that "a deaf or hearing impaired claimant, who is not able to hear a standard fire alarm while washing or bathing, may need a visual alarm to alert them to the risk of fire, in order to wash or bathe safely". That is a washing descriptor, reached through an alarm rather than through the bath.
Evidence That Supports a Hearing Loss Claim
Evidence that names the activity beats evidence that names the diagnosis. Every descriptor above 0 points already assumes the condition is present.
- An audiology report giving the audiogram and the loss in each ear in decibels
- A record of hearing aids, a cochlear implant or a bone-anchored device, with the fitting date
- A record of communication support used — a BSL interpreter, lipspeaker or speech-to-text reporter
- An assessment from a sensory services or social work team
- A record of safety adaptations supplied, such as a vibrating or visual fire alarm
- A written statement from a person who interprets or relays information for you, describing when 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.
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 is already in place and was backdated, the work out your pip back pay tool prices the arrears.
The condition guide, covering evidence and the assessment in full, is on check pip for hearing loss.