Disability
PIP eligibility: the conditions to meet before the points count
Four gates come before the assessment: age, time, residence and the other benefits you get.
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To start a claim for Personal Independence Payment you must be aged 16 or over and, for a new claim, under State Pension age. You need a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability that makes everyday tasks or getting around difficult, and the difficulty has to pass a time test: present for the 3 months before the award starts and expected to last at least 9 months after it, 12 months in all. You must normally live in England or Wales when you claim, have been in Great Britain for 104 of the last 156 weeks, roughly two of the last three years, and be habitually resident with no immigration restriction on public funds. Income, savings and work do not matter. Only then do the points decide the rate. Claims start by phone, an award lasts from 9 months to 10 years, and a refusal must be challenged by mandatory reconsideration within one month before any appeal.
When the PIP time conditions are met
Backward test met from
1 November 2026
| Must be expected to last until at least | 1 August 2027 |
| The benefit to claim | PIP, if the points test is met |
| Points needed | 8 standard, 12 enhanced |
You can phone to start the claim before the backward date: an award cannot begin earlier than it. Under the special rules for end of life, the time conditions do not apply.
Age: who claims PIP and who claims something else
PIP is the disability benefit for working-age adults. The lower limit is the 16th birthday: children below it claim Disability Living Allowance for children, and a young person already on DLA is invited to move across at 16. The upper limit is written for new claims. Someone over that age without a recent award claims Attendance Allowance instead, unless they had PIP or Adult Disability Payment within the last 12 months. People born on or before 8 April 1948 who still receive DLA keep it and are not moved to PIP.
The time test in regulation 12
PIP is for lasting difficulties, and regulation 12 turns that into dates. Looking back, you must have had the difficulties for the 3 months ending with the date the award would start. Looking forward, they must be likely to continue for the 9 months after it. Both halves apply to the same rate: if your needs only reached the enhanced level recently, the enhanced rate waits until that level has lasted 3 months too.
Take someone who had a stroke on 20 July 2026 and has needed help to wash, dress and cook since. The backward test is met on 20 October 2026; the difficulties must be expected to continue to 20 July 2027. He can start the claim in August, while still recovering, but PIP cannot be paid for any day before the backward test is met. If his doctors expect a full recovery by Christmas, the forward test fails and PIP is not payable, however severe the needs are today.
Under the special rules for end of life, when a doctor or other medical professional has said you may have 12 months or less to live, neither half applies. The claim goes through quickly with form SR1, without a face-to-face assessment, and the enhanced daily living rate of £114.60 is paid automatically.
Residence and presence
Regulation 16 sets four conditions on every day of the claim: being present in England or Wales, having been present in Great Britain for at least 104 of the 156 weeks before, being habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, and not being subject to immigration control. Most British citizens who have lived here all along meet them without thinking. They matter to people who have recently arrived or come back, to EU citizens, who also need settled or pre-settled status, and to anyone planning a long stay abroad: a trip of more than 4 weeks must be reported before you go.
| Condition | Rule in 2026/27 | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Age at claim | 16 to State Pension age | GOV.UK eligibility |
| Time before the award | 3 months of difficulty | Regulation 12 |
| Time after the award | Expected to last 9 more months | Regulation 12 |
| Past presence | 104 of the last 156 weeks in Great Britain | Regulation 16 |
| Where you live | England or Wales (Scotland: ADP) | Regulation 16 and GOV.UK |
| Income and savings | Ignored | GOV.UK |
| Points | 8 for standard, 12 for enhanced, per part | Regulations 5 and 6 |
Other benefits that block or reduce PIP
PIP can be paid with every other benefit except Armed Forces Independence Payment. Two older payments interact with it: Constant Attendance Allowance reduces the daily living part, and War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement replaces the mobility part. Universal Credit, ESA, Carer’s Allowance paid to someone else and the State Pension leave PIP untouched. In the other direction PIP can raise them, which PIP and Universal Credit explains.
Making the claim, step by step
- Phone the PIP new claims line and answer basic questions about yourself and your condition, or write to Freepost DWP PIP 1 asking to start a claim.
- Complete the “How your disability affects you” form online or on paper within 1 month. Describe a bad day and an ordinary day for each activity, and say what happens if you try to do the task without help.
- Attend an assessment if one is needed. It can be in person, at home, by phone or by video and usually lasts about an hour; you can bring someone with you, and the audio is recorded unless you opt out.
- Wait for the decision letter. It lists the points for each activity, the rate of each part, the first payment date and the review date.
How long an award lasts, and challenging it
GOV.UK says a first award lasts between 9 months and 10 years, depending on whether your needs are likely to change. Before it ends, a review form arrives; PIP continues while it is considered, and the outcome can raise, lower or stop the award.
If you think the points are wrong, the first step is always mandatory reconsideration, asked for within 1 month of the decision date (later only with a good reason, such as a stay in hospital). For PIP the decision letter already includes the written reasons, so you can go straight to explaining which descriptors you disagree with and why. Only after the reconsideration notice can you appeal to the independent tribunal. The PIP points calculator helps you see which descriptors would change the rate.