Do heart conditions count?
PIP has no list of conditions. GOV.UK says you must have difficulty with tasks most of the time, meaning more than half of the days over a 12-month period.
DWP's own figures give each heart condition its own row. For decisions on new claims from May 2025 to April 2026, with withdrawn claims left out and the primary condition recorded by DWP, and against 39.6% awards across all conditions:
- Cardiac failure: 4,151 decisions, 55.1% ended in an award. 16,660 people had a current award in April 2026.
- Myocardial infarction: 2,743 decisions, 41.2% awards. 11,795 people with a current award.
- Ischaemic heart disease, other or type not known: 2,245 decisions, 43.1% awards. 10,489 people with a current award.
Angina, atrial fibrillation or flutter, and cardiomyopathy have rows of their own too: angina, atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy. These are past decisions in aggregate and say nothing about any one claim. The source is DWP Stat-Xplore, PIP caseload April 2026 and decisions May 2025 to April 2026, 16 June 2026 release.
Example answers you could adapt
These are illustrations of the kind of detail that helps, not your story. Describe your own heart condition in your own words. Never copy an example, or any part of one, that is not true for you. Descriptor wording is quoted from Schedule 1 to the PIP Regulations.
Example onlyDaily living activity 1: Preparing food
“Ten minutes at the cooker leaves me breathless and light-headed, so I perch on a stool, and I cannot lift a full pan of water from the sink to the hob.
Since my heart attack I do not carry anything hot across the kitchen. My daughter fills the pans and moves them for me while I chop sitting down. When I am on my own I have a sandwich or a bowl of cereal.”
Why this detail matters: Descriptor 1b reads "Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to either prepare or cook a simple meal" and 1e reads "Needs supervision or assistance to either prepare or cook a simple meal", so say what you use, what someone else does, and what you eat on the days nobody is there.
Example onlyDaily living activity 3: Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition
“I take eight tablets a day at three different times, including a water tablet, and I weigh myself every morning and write it down because my heart failure nurse asked me to report a sudden gain.
Last winter I ran out of two of the tablets because I lost track of the dates, and once I took a double dose of the water tablet. My wife now fills a weekly box, rings the pharmacy to reorder and checks the weight chart with me each morning. When she is away I get the days muddled.”
Why this detail matters: Descriptor 3b includes "supervision, prompting or assistance to be able to monitor a health condition" as well as help with medication, so describe the weighing, the tablets and who checks each, rather than saying only that you take tablets.
Example onlyDaily living activity 4: Washing and bathing
“Bending to wash my legs and feet leaves me out of breath and dizzy, so I sit on a shower stool and my son washes my back and legs.
I cannot reach my feet at all when my ankles are swollen. The whole wash takes about forty minutes with a rest in the middle, and afterwards I sit down before I can dry myself. I have stopped using the bath since I cannot climb out of it without help.”
Why this detail matters: Descriptor 4d reads "Needs assistance to be able to wash either their hair or body below the waist" and 4e reads "Needs assistance to be able to get in or out of a bath or shower", so say what help you have for your legs and feet, whether you can step into the bath or shower, and how long it takes.
Example onlyDaily living activity 6: Dressing and undressing
“Lifting my arms and bending forward leave me breathless, so I dress in stages and sit down between them.
I use a long-handled shoe horn and elastic laces, and my wife does up my buttons and puts my socks on when my ankles are swollen. On a bad day it takes about half an hour to be dressed. Once I stood up too fast with my trousers half on and felt so faint that I had to sit on the floor.”
Why this detail matters: Descriptor 6b reads "Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to dress or undress" and 6e reads "Needs assistance to be able to dress or undress their upper body", so list the aids you use, the clothes someone else puts on, and what happens when you feel faint.
Example onlyMobility activity 2: Moving around
“I get breathless and my legs feel heavy after about 40 metres on the flat, and I stop and lean on something until it passes.
Hills and cold wind bring it on sooner, and on days when my ankles are swollen I manage less than 20 metres. I go out with a rollator, and my son drives me to the surgery. I could not repeat the walk to the bus stop later the same day.”
Why this detail matters: Descriptor 2d reads "Can stand and then move using an aid or appliance more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres" and 2c reads "Can stand and then move unaided more than 20 metres but no more than 50 metres", so give the distance before you stop, whether you use an aid, and whether you could do the same walk again later that day.
Activities a heart condition can touch
Which activities matter depends on you, so use this as a prompt and not as a checklist. For heart failure the NHS lists feeling out of breath doing everyday things, feeling weak, light-headed or very tired after moving, and swelling in the feet, ankles, legs or tummy. For coronary heart disease it lists chest pain (angina), shortness of breath and feeling faint, and says not everyone has the same symptoms. After a heart attack the NHS says you will be given medicines to take long term.
- Daily living 1, preparing food: standing to cook and lifting pans. 1b, aid or appliance, is 2 points. 1e, needs supervision or assistance, is 4.
- Daily living 3, managing therapy or monitoring a health condition: help with medicines, or with monitoring your condition such as daily weighing, is 3b, 1 point. Schedule 1 does not count taking medication as therapy.
- Daily living 4 and 6, washing and dressing: 4d, assistance to wash your hair or body below the waist, and 4e, assistance to get in or out of a bath or shower, are 2 and 3 points. 6b, aid or appliance, and 6e, assistance to dress your upper body, are 2 and 4.
- Mobility 2, moving around: how far you can move, safely and repeatedly, when breathlessness or tiredness stops you.
Symptoms that vary
Regulation 7 says that where one descriptor is satisfied on over 50% of the days of the required period, that descriptor applies, and that a descriptor is satisfied on a day if it is likely that, had you been assessed that day, you would have satisfied it. Where two or more descriptors are each satisfied on over 50% of the days, the one that scores higher applies. For a new claim the required period is the 3 months before the prescribed date and the 9 months after it.
That is why the useful thing to say is a number of days. If your breathlessness, swelling or tiredness changes from day to day, say how many days out of 7 a bad day looks like, and what a bad day stops you doing.
Regulation 4(2A) adds that you are assessed as satisfying a descriptor only if you can do the activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period. For each activity, say what happens against each of those four.
Evidence to send
GOV.UK says to include supporting documents with the form, for example prescription lists, care plans or information from your doctor or others involved in your care.
- Letters from your cardiologist or heart failure clinic naming your diagnosis and current treatment.
- Your care plan, if you have one. NICE guideline NG106 says the heart failure team should write a summary that includes medicines and how they are monitored, functional abilities and any social care needs, and that it should be the basis of a care plan.
- A list of your medicines with dates, from your prescription record.
- Hospital discharge letters after a heart attack, procedure or admission.
- A two-week diary of breathlessness, swelling, tiredness and the tasks you stopped or needed help with.
- A short note from someone who helps you, saying what they do.
Our medical evidence guide covers asking for your records.
The form and the assessment
GOV.UK says you start by phone or by post, then complete a form called How your disability affects you, which you should return within 1 month, and that you might be invited to an assessment if more information is needed. The assessment can be at an assessment centre, at your home, by phone or by video call, usually takes about 1 hour, and you can have someone with you. Our PIP2 guide goes through the form question by question, and the example answers hub shows the level of detail across all 12 activities.
Reviews and changes
GOV.UK says a first award runs between 9 months and 10 years, and the letter that approves it tells you when it will end and whether it will be reviewed. At a review you get a form called Personal Independence Payment Review to return within 1 month, you keep being paid while it is looked at, and if your needs have changed your PIP might be increased, reduced or stopped. You must tell the PIP enquiry line straight away if you need more or less help with daily living and mobility tasks. If you disagree with a decision you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration, covered in our mandatory reconsideration guide.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
PIP is for England and Wales. In Scotland you apply for Adult Disability Payment instead. GOV.UK has a separate page for Northern Ireland, and our Northern Ireland guide starts from it.
Frequently asked questions
Do heart conditions count for PIP?
PIP does not list conditions. GOV.UK says it is for people with a long-term physical or mental health condition who have difficulty with certain everyday tasks or getting around because of it. Heart failure, coronary heart disease and recovery after a heart attack are looked at the same way as any other condition: through what happens to you on the 12 activities.
Do I need a particular test result?
No descriptor in Schedule 1 to the PIP Regulations is defined by a test result. They are written as what you can or cannot do, such as how far you can move or whether you need help to wash. Clinic letters and test results are useful as evidence of your condition and treatment, and your own account says what it does to your days.
Does it matter that my heart condition is treated?
Treatment is part of the picture and you should describe your days as they are now, on your current treatment. Regulation 4(2) says you are assessed using any aid or appliance you normally use, or as if you used one you could reasonably be expected to use. Say what treatment you have and what is still difficult.
Is there anything in my heart failure care plan that helps?
NICE guideline NG106 says the heart failure specialist team should write a summary for each person that includes diagnosis, medicines and their monitoring, functional abilities and any social care needs, and that the summary should be the basis of a care plan. If you have one, send it.
Does this guide work in Scotland or Northern Ireland?
PIP is for England and Wales. GOV.UK says that in Scotland you apply for Adult Disability Payment instead, and it has a separate page for Northern Ireland.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), pages on what PIP is for, how to claim, after you have applied and reviews. Read 7 October 2026.
- Schedule 1, SI 2013/377, activities and descriptors. Wording checked against our copy of 2 October 2026.
- Regulation 4 and regulation 7, SI 2013/377.
- NICE guideline NG106, Chronic heart failure in adults: diagnosis and management. Published 12 September 2018, last updated 3 September 2025. Read 7 October 2026.
- NHS pages on heart failure, coronary heart disease and heart attack. Read 7 October 2026.
- DWP Stat-Xplore, PIP caseload April 2026 and decisions May 2025 to April 2026 (16 June 2026 release). Our analysis, rows linked above.
General information and document drafting, not benefits advice. Finally Seen is not affiliated with DWP or the NHS and does not guarantee any award. Check current guidance at gov.uk before sending.