Does anxiety qualify?
Yes. PIP has no list of qualifying conditions. The legal test is whether your condition affects you against 12 specific activities, on most days, safely, repeatedly, to an acceptable standard, and in a reasonable time. Generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, PTSD, OCD, social anxiety, agoraphobia and health anxiety can each score on multiple activities.
The barrier is not the diagnosis. The barrier is assessors treating anxiety as "everyone gets anxious" rather than as a disorder that removes function on most days.
Which descriptors apply
- Daily Living 9: Engaging with other people face to face. Panic in social situations, cannot engage without overwhelming distress, needs another person present: 2 to 8 points.
- Mobility 1: Planning and following a journey. Cannot follow a familiar route alone due to psychological distress, panic on public transport, agoraphobic avoidance: up to 12 points.
- Daily Living 10: Making budgeting decisions. Cannot open post, cannot handle bills, avoidance leading to unpaid direct debits: 2 to 6 points.
- Daily Living 4: Washing and bathing. Depression-linked avoidance, OCD rituals lengthening the task, days without washing: descriptor 4c, "Needs supervision or prompting to be able to wash or bathe", 2 points.
- Daily Living 1: Preparing food. Panic in the kitchen, executive shutdown, ARFID overlap, cannot cook a simple meal reliably: 2 to 8 points.
- Daily Living 7: Communicating verbally. Situational mutism, cannot speak to strangers, cannot use the phone: 2 to 12 points.
Example answers you could adapt
These are illustrations, written to show the kind of detail that helps a decision maker understand your day: what happens, how often, how long it takes, whether it is safe, and who helps. Describe your own experience in your own words. Never copy an example, or any part of one, that is not true for you.
Each activity is named as it appears in Schedule 1 to the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, and the descriptor wording is quoted from there.
Example onlyDaily living activity 9: Engaging with other people face to face
“With anyone outside my family I go red, my voice shakes, and I am so busy worrying about how I am coming across that I lose track of what is being said.
This year I have walked out of a parents' evening and a dental check-up because the panic got too much. My husband now has to be there whenever I will be talking to someone I do not know, and he starts the conversation and steps in when I freeze. When I do have to deal with a stranger on my own, I lie awake that night going back over every word.”
Why this detail matters: Encouragement beforehand is what 9b describes, "Needs prompting to be able to engage with other people". Someone who has to be in the room, open the conversation and step in when you freeze is closer to 9c, "Needs social support to be able to engage with other people", so say plainly which of those your help involves.
Example onlyMobility activity 1: Planning and following journeys
“I panic anywhere I cannot get out of quickly, so trains, queues and crowded shops are the hardest places for me.
I go over the route on a map the night before any journey, but on the day I often still cannot make myself leave, and I have rebooked the same hospital scan three times. My sister travels with me anywhere further than the school run, sits by the door on the train and talks me through the panic when it comes. After a trip into town I am exhausted until bedtime.”
Why this detail matters: Panic of this kind is what 1b is concerned with, "Needs prompting to be able to undertake any journey to avoid overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant". What your sister does on the train, and the scan you kept rebooking without her, show how that prompting works and what happens when it is missing.
Example onlyDaily living activity 10: Making budgeting decisions
“Looking at my bank balance brings on a panic attack, so most weeks I have no clear idea how much money I have.
Bills go straight into a drawer when they arrive, and I paid far more than I needed to for my mobile for eight months because I could not face phoning to change the contract. My brother comes round on Friday evenings, opens the statements with me and works out what can be paid and what has to wait. If he misses a week I buy only basics, because I cannot judge what I can afford.”
Why this detail matters: Bills and planning ahead count as complex budgeting decisions in the regulations, and 10b reads "Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make complex budgeting decisions". The contract you could not face changing and the Friday sessions with your brother show where help is needed, and buying basics yourself shows the everyday spending you still manage.
Example onlyDaily living activity 4: Washing and bathing
“Since a panic attack in the bath last winter, when I felt faint, could not get my breath and could not get myself out, I have been frightened of washing when nobody else is in.
Heat sets off a racing heart and light-headedness, so I keep the water lukewarm and the door ajar, and I wait until my mum, who lives with me, is home and sitting on the landing. On the two or so days a week she is out from morning till evening, I do not wash at all. A shower that should take ten minutes takes me nearer half an hour, because I keep stopping to steady my breathing.”
Why this detail matters: 4c reads "Needs supervision or prompting to be able to wash or bathe", and supervision here means someone being present to keep you safe. That attack in the bath, the days you go without when nobody is in, and the half hour a shower takes together explain why you do not wash alone.
Example onlyDaily living activity 1: Preparing food
“Most afternoons the worry builds until my hands tremble and I feel sick, and that is exactly when I would be making the evening meal for me and my son.
In that state I cannot keep a knife steady or carry a pan of boiling water to the sink safely, so I leave those jobs. My partner does the chopping and draining when she gets in, and I do the rest with her in the kitchen. On the weekends she works away we mostly have ready meals.”
Why this detail matters: Taking over the knife work and the boiling water is assistance in the sense of 1e, "Needs supervision or assistance to either prepare or cook a simple meal". Naming the exact steps your hands cannot manage safely while you are anxious shows the help is part of the cooking itself, not a reminder to get started.
The reliability test
Under Regulation 4(2A) you can only be counted as able to do a task if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and in a reasonable time. For anxiety, these are usually the parts of the test that matter:
- Repeatedly. You can leave the house on a good day, but 5 days out of 7 you cannot. That is unable, not able.
- Safely. Panic on public transport that leads to freezing on a platform, or dissociation while cooking.
- In a reasonable time. Opening a single letter takes 3 weeks because it triggers a panic response.
Use quantified frequency, not vague adverbs. "4 days out of 7 I cannot leave the house alone" beats "I sometimes struggle with going out". Assessors and tribunals both respond to specifics. See our medical evidence guide for how to phrase impact throughout the form.
Evidence to send
- Anxiety diagnosis (GP, IAPT/NHS Talking Therapies discharge letter, community mental health team).
- GP consultation notes showing recurring anxiety-related presentations. Get them for free via a subject access request.
- Medication list: SSRIs, SNRIs, propranolol, benzodiazepines, and any changes over the last 12 months.
- Therapy correspondence: CBT discharge letter, therapist progress notes if you have private therapy.
- Letters about comorbid conditions: depression, ADHD, autism, physical conditions.
- A 1 or 2 page partner or carer statement describing daily life on typical and worst-case days.
At the assessment
You can ask for the format that suits you (phone, video or face-to-face) and explain why. Whether your claim is decided on the papers without a consultation is the health professional's decision. Face-to-face is often the worst for anxiety claimants because masking is highest. Practical points:
- Bring an advocate. They can speak and add observations to the record.
- Phone and face-to-face assessments are audio recorded automatically unless you opt out, and you can ask for a copy. Video assessments cannot be recorded, so if a recording matters to you, do not choose video.
- Answer with what actually happens on typical days. "I cannot go alone" beats "I try to go".
- If you have a panic response during the assessment, that is itself evidence. Do not push through.
What you could be awarded
Each component is scored separately: 8 to 11 points is the standard rate and 12 or more is the enhanced rate. Standard Daily Living is £76.70 a week, and standard Daily Living plus standard Mobility is £107.00 a week, about £428 every 4 weeks. On planning and following journeys alone, 12 points is descriptor 1f, "Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid"; descriptor 1e, not being able to undertake any journey because of overwhelming psychological distress, is 10 points.
If you are refused
Common refusal pattern: assessor records "engaged well, no obvious distress, made eye contact" and scores 0 on DL 9. Counter at MR in descriptor language with worst-day examples and quantified frequency. If MR fails, appeal to tribunal: the Ministry of Justice recorded a 67% PIP overturn rate for appeals cleared at a hearing in April to June 2026, and that figure is not broken down by condition. See the complete PIP guide for the appeal process.
Frequently asked questions
Can you get PIP for anxiety?
Yes. Anxiety disorders (generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, PTSD, OCD, social anxiety, agoraphobia) are a common primary or contributory condition on the PIP caseload. The test is functional impact on the 12 PIP activities, not the label.
Do I need a formal anxiety diagnosis?
Legally no, because PIP is about impact. Practically yes, because a GP or specialist diagnosis (with duration, treatment, and impact notes) is far easier to evidence than self-reported symptoms.
Which PIP activities does anxiety score on?
Most commonly: engaging with other people face to face (DL 9), planning and following a journey (Mob 1), making budgeting decisions (DL 10), washing and bathing (DL 4) and preparing food (DL 1) where panic, avoidance, or executive shutdown intervene.
Will I get enhanced rate PIP for anxiety?
It depends on which descriptors apply, not on the diagnosis. Enhanced needs 12 or more points in a component. On planning and following journeys alone, 12 points is descriptor 1f, "Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid". Descriptor 1e, "Cannot undertake any journey because it would cause overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant", is 10 points, which is the standard rate.
Will therapy or medication mean I lose points?
Not in itself. Descriptors ask what you can do reliably with your current treatment. If SSRIs, propranolol, or CBT help but you still cannot do tasks safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time, the descriptors are applied to what you can actually do.