Phone, video and face to face
PIP assessments are carried out for the DWP by an assessment provider. GOV.UK says you might be invited to an assessment with a health professional if more information is needed, and that it can take place at an assessment centre, at your home, over the phone or by video call. DWP's guide says some claims are assessed from the paper evidence without a consultation (part 1, 1.1.7).
The guide covers telephone, video and face-to-face consultations in the same section (part 1, 1.6). 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 guide says the assessor may notice things such as your appearance on video (1.6.32). Anything out of view, such as how you got to the chair, still needs saying.
- Face to face. The guide says the consultation starts when you enter the assessment centre, and its examples of what can be noted include walking ability (1.6.32).
- Home visit. The same, with the addition of what is around you, such as grab rails, a perching stool, or a bed downstairs.
The guide says the consultation starts when you begin to talk with the health professional on the phone or video, enter the assessment centre, or are met at home, and that observations made outside it cannot be recorded (1.6.32).
The questions, activity by activity
DWP's guide tells the assessor to explore all 12 activities, focusing on those most likely to be affected, using open questions (part 1, 1.6.29). It gives no list of questions, so the questions below are our own examples of the ground its notes for each activity cover, not a quotation:
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, 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 guide uses the typical day to explore how you manage, including good days and bad days and how many of each (1.6.25), and says a snapshot of one day is not an adequate assessment (1.6.30). Describe a normal week honestly, including the bad days.
The four reliability criteria
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.
Regulation 4(2A) says you are assessed as satisfying a descriptor only if you can do it in all four of those ways. DWP's guide says that if you cannot reliably complete an activity in the way a descriptor describes, you should be considered unable to complete it at that level and another descriptor selected. 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.
- 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 any therapy you do at home.
- 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. Say what is true, including the bad days.
- Plan for the length. GOV.UK says an assessment usually takes 1 hour. If you need an adjustment, such as breaks, you can ask the provider before the appointment (guide 1.3.15).
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. If it was recorded, ask for the audio on the number on your appointment letter.
Frequently asked questions
Free, nothing stored
Score yourself against the twelve activities
Every descriptor and point value quoted from Schedule 1 of the 2013 regulations, with the reliability test from regulation 4(2A) set out before you start. Daily living and mobility are totalled separately, in your browser, and you are not asked for an email address.
It reports the points those descriptors carry. Whether a descriptor applies to you is decided by the assessor and the decision maker, not by this page.
What questions do PIP ask on a phone assessment?
DWP's guide for assessors gives no fixed list of questions. It tells the health professional to explore all 12 activities, focusing on those most likely to be affected, with open-ended questions about how easy or hard each task is, how long it takes, any pain, fatigue or anxiety during or after, and any help from another person, and to ask about good days and bad days and how many of each. It also covers your conditions, treatment, medication, home, work and a typical day.
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 guide sets one process for telephone, video and face-to-face consultations. On the phone the assessor cannot see you, so anything visible needs saying out loud. The guide says the consultation starts when you begin to talk with the health professional on the phone or video, enter the assessment centre, or are met at home, and that observations made outside it cannot be recorded (1.6.32). On the phone its example is manner and behaviour, such as tearfulness, and hearing; face to face it includes things such as walking ability.
Can someone else be with me?
Yes. GOV.UK says you can have someone with you, for example a friend or support worker. DWP's guide says a companion can help you answer questions where you or the health professional wish them to, and what they say is recorded. On a phone assessment tell the assessor at the start who else is present.
Can I record the assessment?
GOV.UK says that from 29 June 2026 all telephone and face-to-face health assessments, including PIP, are audio recorded automatically. You can ask for yours not to be recorded, without being disadvantaged, by contacting the Health Assessment Advisory Service before the appointment on the number at the top of your appointment letter, or by telling the health professional at any point. Video assessments cannot be recorded because of technical limitations. You can ask for a copy during the assessment or by calling the number on your appointment letter. Writing your own note straight after the call still helps.
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.