The Short Answer
PIP descriptors are the fixed legal statements that score the 12 assessment activities, each carrying set points from 0 to 12. Ten activities score the daily living component and two score mobility. In each activity, the highest descriptor that applies to you counts. At least 8 points in a component pays its standard rate and at least 12 pays enhanced. The tables below reproduce every descriptor verbatim from the PIP Regulations.
PIP Descriptors in Detail
Every descriptor and point value below is copied from Schedule 1 of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, as amended, checked against legislation.gov.uk. Sub-limbs written (i), (ii) and (iii) in the law are shown inline. Points from these tables convert to money at the current PIP back pay calculator rates once thresholds are met.
Last checked: 7 August 2026
A note on how the activities are numbered
This site numbers the activities the way Schedule 1 numbers them: daily living 1 to 10, then mobility 1 to 2. Schedule 1 sets the two components out in separate tables, and each table starts again at 1.
The DWP's PIP Assessment Guide numbers the same twelve activities 1 to 12 in a single run, so its activity 11 is mobility 1, planning and following journeys, and its activity 12 is mobility 2, moving around. Advice services and tribunal decisions commonly use that form. Both refer to the same activities and the same descriptors; only the numbering differs, and this note is the site's single statement of the convention.
Daily living activity 1: Preparing food
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can prepare and cook a simple meal unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal. | 2 |
| c. Cannot cook a simple meal using a conventional cooker but is able to do so using a microwave. | 2 |
| d. Needs prompting to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal. | 2 |
| e. Needs supervision or assistance to either prepare or cook a simple meal. | 4 |
| f. Cannot prepare and cook food. | 8 |
Daily living activity 2: Taking nutrition
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can take nutrition unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs (i) to use an aid or appliance to be able to take nutrition; or (ii) supervision to be able to take nutrition; or (iii) assistance to be able to cut up food. | 2 |
| c. Needs a therapeutic source to be able to take nutrition. | 2 |
| d. Needs prompting to be able to take nutrition. | 4 |
| e. Needs assistance to be able to manage a therapeutic source to take nutrition. | 6 |
| f. Cannot convey food and drink to their mouth and needs another person to do so. | 10 |
Daily living activity 3: Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Either (i) does not receive medication or therapy or need to monitor a health condition; or (ii) can manage medication or therapy or monitor a health condition unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs any one or more of the following: (i) to use an aid or appliance to be able to manage medication; (ii) supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage medication; (iii) supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to monitor a health condition. | 1 |
| c. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes no more than 3.5 hours a week. | 2 |
| d. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes more than 3.5 but no more than 7 hours a week. | 4 |
| e. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes more than 7 but no more than 14 hours a week. | 6 |
| f. Needs supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to manage therapy that takes more than 14 hours a week. | 8 |
Daily living activity 4: Washing and bathing
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can wash and bathe unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to wash or bathe. | 2 |
| c. Needs supervision or prompting to be able to wash or bathe. | 2 |
| d. Needs assistance to be able to wash either their hair or body below the waist. | 2 |
| e. Needs assistance to be able to get in or out of a bath or shower. | 3 |
| f. Needs assistance to be able to wash their body between the shoulders and waist. | 4 |
| g. Cannot wash and bathe at all and needs another person to wash their entire body. | 8 |
Daily living activity 5: Managing toilet needs or incontinence
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can manage toilet needs or incontinence unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to manage toilet needs or incontinence. | 2 |
| c. Needs supervision or prompting to be able to manage toilet needs. | 2 |
| d. Needs assistance to be able to manage toilet needs. | 4 |
| e. Needs assistance to be able to manage incontinence of either bladder or bowel. | 6 |
| f. Needs assistance to be able to manage incontinence of both bladder and bowel. | 8 |
Daily living activity 6: Dressing and undressing
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can dress and undress unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to dress or undress. | 2 |
| c. Needs either (i) prompting to be able to dress, undress or determine appropriate circumstances for remaining clothed; or (ii) prompting or assistance to be able to select appropriate clothing. | 2 |
| d. Needs assistance to be able to dress or undress their lower body. | 2 |
| e. Needs assistance to be able to dress or undress their upper body. | 4 |
| f. Cannot dress or undress at all. | 8 |
Daily living activity 7: Communicating verbally
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can express and understand verbal information unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to speak or hear. | 2 |
| c. Needs communication support to be able to express or understand complex verbal information. | 4 |
| d. Needs communication support to be able to express or understand basic verbal information. | 8 |
| e. Cannot express or understand verbal information at all even with communication support. | 12 |
Daily living activity 8: Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can read and understand basic and complex written information either unaided or using spectacles or contact lenses. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance, other than spectacles or contact lenses, to be able to read or understand either basic or complex written information. | 2 |
| c. Needs prompting to be able to read or understand complex written information. | 2 |
| d. Needs prompting to be able to read or understand basic written information. | 4 |
| e. Cannot read or understand signs, symbols or words at all. | 8 |
Daily living activity 9: Engaging with other people face to face
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can engage with other people unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs prompting to be able to engage with other people. | 2 |
| c. Needs social support to be able to engage with other people. | 4 |
| d. Cannot engage with other people due to such engagement causing either (i) overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant; or (ii) the claimant to exhibit behaviour which would result in a substantial risk of harm to the claimant or another person. | 8 |
Daily living activity 10: Making budgeting decisions
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can manage complex budgeting decisions unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make complex budgeting decisions. | 2 |
| c. Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make simple budgeting decisions. | 4 |
| d. Cannot make any budgeting decisions at all. | 6 |
Mobility activity 1: Planning and following journeys
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can plan and follow the route of a journey unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. | 4 |
| c. Cannot plan the route of a journey. | 8 |
| d. Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid. | 10 |
| e. Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant. | 10 |
| f. Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. | 12 |
Mobility activity 2: Moving around
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can stand and then move more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided. | 0 |
| b. Can stand and then move more than 50 metres but no more than 200 metres, either aided or unaided | 4 |
| c. Can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres. | 8 |
| d. Can stand and then move using an aid or appliance more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres. | 10 |
| e. Can stand and then move more than 1 metre but no more than 20 metres, either aided or unaided. | 12 |
| f. Cannot, either aided or unaided, (i) stand; or (ii) move more than 1 metre. | 12 |
Last checked: 7 August 2026
Reading the tables
Three rules govern how the tables score. Only the highest descriptor that applies in an activity counts, so 1e and 1b together score 4, not 6. A descriptor only fails to apply if you manage the task safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time; managing badly or dangerously scores as not managing. And a descriptor applies if it reflects the majority of days: the thresholds and per-activity guides below take both rules further.
The defined terms inside the descriptors carry precise legal meanings, and misreading them is the commonest self-scoring error. Aided means with an aid, appliance, supervision, prompting or assistance. Prompting means reminding, encouraging or explaining by another person. Supervision means the continuous presence of another person to ensure safety. Assistance means physical intervention, not words. A simple meal means a cooked one-course meal for one using fresh ingredients. Reading them narrowly or broadly changes scores by whole descriptors, which is why the definitions come from the same Schedule as the tables.
Patterns worth noticing across the tables
The tables reward structured reading, and four patterns do most of the analytical work. Prompting descriptors appear in eight of the ten daily living activities, which is how mental health conditions score across the component without any dedicated activity. The aids-and-appliances descriptors sit at 2 points almost everywhere, so equipment needs alone reach 8 points only through breadth across four activities. The two mobility activities split cleanly between cognitive and psychological limits on journeys and physical limits on movement, and both carry 12-point descriptors. And the therapy activity is the only one scored by time, stepping from 1 point to 8 as weekly therapy hours rise.
Read as a whole, the tables also answer the question behind most searches that land on them: no condition appears anywhere. The law scores function alone, which is why one diagnosis produces different awards in different lives, and why an honest self-score through the tables beats any condition-based guess.
The component maximums, and what they imply
Totalling the tables sets the scoring space. The ten daily living activities carry a theoretical maximum of 84 points, and the two mobility activities carry 24. Against thresholds of 8 and 12, the arithmetic is generous by design: daily living's threshold is under a tenth of its maximum, so no single activity is indispensable, and many different profiles of difficulty reach the same award. Mobility's two-activity structure concentrates the scoring instead, with each activity able to carry an enhanced award alone.
The same arithmetic warns against two reading errors. Adding every descriptor that ever applies inflates a score badly, because only the highest per activity counts on the majority of days. And treating 8 points as a high bar deters claims the tables would pay: two activities needing assistance, or four needing aids, cross it.
Using the tables for a review or challenge
The tables serve decided claims as much as new ones. An award letter lists the descriptors the DWP found for each activity; laying that list against these tables, line by line, shows exactly where a decision under-scores your reality, and the specific descriptor you contend for becomes the backbone of a mandatory reconsideration letter. At reviews, the same comparison against your current days shows whether the award still fits, in either direction. Challenges argued in descriptor language, this line applies because of these facts, consistently outperform general disagreement.
Per-activity deep dives ship in a later wave; the planned set covers each activity's descriptors with examples: Preparing Food activity, Eating and Drinking activity, Managing Treatments activity, Washing and Bathing activity, Managing Toilet Needs activity, Dressing and Undressing activity, Communicating Verbally activity, Reading and Understanding activity, Mixing With Other People activity, Making Budgeting Decisions activity, Planning and Following Journeys activity and Moving Around activity. The threshold arithmetic lives now at points thresholds, with the supporting rules at reliability criteria, 50% rule and check aids and appliances.
These tables are the reference this site's tools and guides all point back to, and the safest habit is reading them directly whenever a summary elsewhere seems to disagree: the Schedule's own words, reproduced above, settle the question.
Twelve activities, one page, the law's own words: this reference exists so that number-checking never requires trust in anyone's summary, including ours.
Bookmark the page; cite the Schedule; check every summary against both.
The reference stays current because the law it copies is fetched, not remembered, at every revision.
Work Out Your Number
Every table above is wired into the PIP points calculator: select your descriptor per activity and the totals, thresholds and money appear as you go. The wider assessment process around the scoring is covered in the PIP assessment guide.