Phone, video and face to face
PIP assessments are carried out for the DWP by an assessment provider. Most are done by telephone. Some are done by video call, some in an assessment centre, and a smaller number as a home visit. A minority of claims are decided on the paper evidence alone, with no assessment at all.
The questions do not change with the format. What changes is what the assessor can see and how the practicalities land:
- Telephone. Nothing is visible, so anything you would show has to be said. If you are lying down, in pain, or being prompted by someone in the room, say it out loud, because otherwise it is not in the record.
- Video. The assessor can see your face and upper body only. What they cannot see, such as how you got to the chair, still needs saying.
- Face to face. Informal observations start in the waiting room: how you sat, how you stood up, whether you turned your head, whether you carried a bag. These get written down.
- Home visit. The same, with the addition of what is around you, such as grab rails, a perching stool, or a bed downstairs.
In every format the assessment has started before the formal questions do. The first minute of small talk is part of it.
The questions, activity by activity
The assessor works through the 12 activities in the regulations. The wording differs between assessors, but the ground covered does not. This is the shape of it:
Preparing food
Do you cook from fresh? Could you peel and chop vegetables and use a hob? Do you use a microwave instead, and why? Does anyone prepare food for you, and how often?
Taking nutrition
Do you eat regular meals? Do you need reminding to eat? Any difficulty cutting food up, holding cutlery, or getting food to your mouth?
Managing therapy or monitoring a condition
What medication are you on, and do you take it without being reminded? Do you monitor anything at home, such as blood glucose, blood pressure, peak flow or seizures? Does anyone supervise or help with therapy, and for how many hours a week?
Washing and bathing
Bath or shower? Do you need to hold something, or sit down? Does anyone help you wash your hair, your back, or below the waist? How often do you skip washing?
Managing toilet needs
Any difficulty getting on or off the toilet, or cleaning yourself afterwards? Any accidents, and how often? Do you use pads or any other aid?
Dressing and undressing
How long does dressing take? Any difficulty with buttons, zips, socks or shoes? Does anyone help with your upper or lower body? Do you choose clothes suitable for the weather?
Communicating verbally
Can you hold a conversation with someone you do not know? Do you use hearing aids? Does anyone speak for you on the phone, or explain things back to you?
Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words
Can you read a letter from the council or a leaflet from the pharmacy? Do you need someone to read post to you, or to explain it?
Engaging with other people face to face
Do you see friends or family? Can you go to a shop or a waiting room? What happens if you have to be around people, and do you need someone with you?
Making budgeting decisions
Who manages the money and pays the bills? Can you work out change, or plan spending across a month? Has anything gone wrong with bills or debts?
Planning and following journeys
Do you go out alone? Can you plan a route somewhere new, or use public transport? What happens if you have to go somewhere unfamiliar?
Moving around
How far can you walk before you stop, in metres or in a distance you know, such as to the end of the road? How long does that take, what happens afterwards, and do you use a stick, crutches or a wheelchair?
Notice what almost every one of those has in common: the useful part of the answer is a number. How often, how far, how long, how many days a week. An answer of "I struggle with that" cannot be matched to a descriptor. An answer of "four days out of seven I cannot do it at all, and on the other three it takes me about 40 minutes and I have to sit down twice" can be.
The opening questions
Before the activities, expect a run of general questions. They are not filler. They set up the picture the report is written against:
- What conditions do you have, and when were they diagnosed?
- What medication are you on, what dose, and does it help?
- Which professionals are involved, and when did you last see them?
- Who lives with you, and do they help you?
- Talk me through a typical day, from waking up.
- Do you work, study, drive, or have caring responsibilities?
The typical day question does the most work in the report. If you describe your best day, that becomes the baseline. Describe a normal week honestly, including the bad days and how many of them there are.
The four reliability criteria
This is the part most people are never told about, and it decides more than any individual question. Under regulation 4(2A) of SI 2013/377, you only count as able to complete an activity if you can do it:
- Safely. Regulation 4(4) defines this as in a manner unlikely to cause harm to you or to another person, either during or after completion of the activity.
- To an acceptable standard. The regulations do not define this one. Argue it from your own facts: whether the food is actually edible, whether you are actually clean, whether the task has to be redone or put right by someone else, and what it costs you for the rest of the day.
- Repeatedly. Defined as as often as the activity being assessed is reasonably required to be completed.
- Within a reasonable time period. Defined as no more than twice as long as the maximum period a person without a condition limiting that ability would normally take.
If any one of those four fails, the activity should be treated as one you need help with, even if you can technically get to the end of it. That is why "yes, but" answers matter, and why a flat yes is rarely the accurate answer. Regulation 7 adds the other half of the test: a descriptor applies if it fits on more than half the days in the relevant period.
How the scoring works
Each activity has a list of descriptors in Schedule 1 to the regulations, and each descriptor has a published point value. The assessor recommends one descriptor per activity. A DWP decision maker, not the assessor, decides which descriptors apply. Points are then added within each component, and the published thresholds are 8 points for the standard rate and 12 points for the enhanced rate, counted separately for daily living and for mobility.
Two things follow from that. First, nobody can tell you your score in advance, including us: the descriptors that apply are a decision, not a calculation. Second, the language of the descriptors is what your answers are being translated into, so it is worth reading them before the call. You can read all 67 of them, with the published point value attached to each, on our PIP points calculator.
How to prepare
- Keep a two week diary before the call. Date, task, what went wrong, who helped, how long it took. Frequency evidence is the thing assessors most often say is missing.
- Write the numbers down where you can see them. Metres you can walk, minutes a shower takes, days a week you cannot cook, hours a week of therapy or monitoring.
- Re-read your PIP2 form. The assessor has it in front of them, and a contradiction between the form and the call gets noted.
- Have your medication list and appointment dates to hand. Actual names and doses, not approximations.
- Arrange your companion in advance and tell the assessor at the start that they are there.
- Do not tidy up the truth. Politeness and understatement are the most common reasons a report reads better than the reality.
- Ask for a break if you need one. The call commonly runs an hour or more.
Straight afterwards
Write your own note while it is fresh: who called, how long it lasted, what was asked, what you said, and anything you got wrong or forgot. If you missed something important, send it to the DWP in writing and keep a copy. You can ask the DWP for a copy of the assessment report, and it is worth reading against your own note, because factual errors in the report are far easier to challenge with a contemporaneous record than from memory months later.
Before your assessment
Our assessment turns your own answers into the 12 PIP activities in descriptor language, tested against the four reliability criteria, with your frequency evidence attached.
Frequently asked questions
What questions do PIP ask on a phone assessment?
The assessor works through the 12 PIP activities and asks how you manage each one on a typical day: preparing food, taking nutrition, managing therapy or monitoring a condition, washing, toilet needs, dressing, communicating, reading, engaging with people, budgeting, planning and following journeys, and moving around. Expect follow-up questions about how often you need help, how long a task takes, whether anything goes wrong, and what a bad day looks like. They also ask general questions about your day, your medication, your appointments, and who is at home with you.
How is PIP scored?
Each activity has a set of descriptors in Schedule 1 to the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, and each descriptor carries a published point value. The assessor recommends one descriptor per activity and a DWP decision maker decides which descriptors apply. Points are added within each component. The published thresholds are 8 points for the standard rate and 12 points for the enhanced rate, counted separately for daily living and mobility.
Is a phone assessment different from a face to face one?
The questions are the same. The differences are practical. On the phone the assessor cannot see you, so anything visible needs saying out loud. In person, and on video, informal observations can be recorded, such as how you sat, moved or handled a bag. In every format the assessment starts when the call connects or when you arrive, not when the formal questions begin.
Can someone else be with me?
Yes. You can have a family member, friend or adviser with you, and they can speak to add detail or correct something. On a phone assessment tell the assessor at the start who else is present. Ask for the assessment to be paused if you need a break.
Can I record the assessment?
You can ask, but recording has conditions and needs to be arranged in advance with the assessment provider, so raise it when the appointment is booked rather than on the day. A simpler route that needs no permission is to have someone with you taking written notes, and to write your own note of what was asked and what you answered as soon as the call ends.
What if I cannot answer a question on the day?
Say so plainly rather than guessing. It is reasonable to say that you do not remember, that it varies, or that you would need to check. Guessed numbers become fixed facts in the report and are hard to unpick later. If you realise afterwards that an answer was wrong, write to the DWP with the correction and keep a copy.
General information and document drafting, not benefits advice. Finally Seen cannot tell you what the DWP will decide on your claim.