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PIP by condition · Depression
PIP for depression: can you get it, and how much?
Depression is the eighth most common main condition among people getting PIP. Fewer than half of new claims succeed, yet 42% of awards include the enhanced daily living rate. Here is what the DWP looks for, activity by activity, and how to describe the days you cannot get going.
- People getting PIP101,572
- Average award a week£114.77
- Enhanced daily living42%
- Enhanced mobility23%
Yes. 101,572 people get PIP for depression as their main condition, and 45.4% of new claims were awarded in the year to July 2026, just above the 44.8% average for all conditions.
Awards are worth £114.77 a week on average, 42% include enhanced daily living against 34% for all conditions, and 62% are reviewed within two years. The claims that succeed show the prompting you need to wash, dress, eat and take your tablets on most days.
awarded
The figures
Depression and PIP in numbers.
Every figure here comes from the DWP’s own data, released each quarter. Pick another condition to compare.
| People getting PIP | 101,572 | July 2026 |
| Average award a week | £114.77 | |
| Awards with enhanced daily living | 42% | |
| Awards with enhanced mobility | 23% | |
| Reconsiderations that changed the award | 24.8% |
Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, PIP cases with entitlement (July 2026) and clearances (August 2025 to July 2026). A pattern across claimants, not your chance. Why figures differ: we count awards as a share of all decisions made after an assessment in the last 12 months.
Where claims go wrong
Why depression claims are refused.
More than half of new depression claims are refused after the assessment, and the reasons repeat. Having read thousands of these decisions from the inside, these are the four patterns that lose the most points.
“I manage”
Depression makes people play things down. “I manage to wash” can mean once a week, after your partner has asked three times. The decision maker reads “I manage” as zero points, so say how often, and who gets you there.
Prompting left out
Being reminded, encouraged or talked into getting up, eating or taking your tablets is prompting, and prompting scores on most daily living activities. If someone does it for you, name them and say how often.
“Well kempt, good rapport”
The report notes that you were dressed, chatted and smiled. For many people with depression that hour took everything they had. Say what it took to get ready and what the rest of the day looked like.
“Mild, managed by GP”
A GP-only treatment history, or a diagnosis your GP once called mild, is often read as low need. PIP turns on what you can and cannot do on most days, not on the label or who treats you.
If your decision letter reads like one of these, the Should I challenge my PIP decision? checker shows what the points were worth and your deadline.
The rule that decides depression claims
The reliability test: safely, repeatedly, in a reasonable time.
Under regulation 4(2A) of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, you only count as able to do an activity if you can do it in all four of these ways, on the majority of days. For depression, this is often the whole case: getting showered and dressed once, then spending the next two days in bed, is not something you can do repeatedly.
Depression rarely stays at one level. Count the days: “I stayed in bed past midday on 19 days in June” is evidence; “some days are worse” is not. If the bad days add up to more than half, the descriptor applies.
From symptoms to points
Which activities each symptom scores on.
The DWP does not score low mood. It scores the twelve activities. This is where each symptom of depression lands.
| Symptom | The activities it scores on | What to describe |
|---|---|---|
| No energy or motivation | Washing and bathing, dressing, preparing food | Whether you would wash, change your clothes or make a meal without someone prompting you, and how many days go by when you do not. |
| Loss of appetite or comfort eating | Taking nutrition, preparing food | Whether you skip meals unless someone puts food in front of you or reminds you to eat, and what you live on when you are low. |
| Poor concentration and memory | Managing medication, preparing food, budgeting | Missed or doubled doses, pans left on, bills unopened. Give real examples and say who steps in. |
| Withdrawal from people | Engaging with other people, planning and following journeys | Whether you can meet people or go out without someone with you, and what happens on the days you try alone. |
| Thoughts of suicide or self-harm | Managing medication, preparing food, engaging with people | Whether someone holds your tablets, removes sharp objects or checks on you, and why. If you are in crisis now, contact your GP, NHS 111 or Samaritans before anything else. |
Activity by activity
Does this apply to you?
These are the six activities where depression most often scores, with every descriptor and its points. Pick the one that fits you on most days in each activity and see roughly where you stand. Eight points in a component is the standard rate; twelve is enhanced.
Preparing foodActivity 1 · up to 8 pts
Whether you would make a meal at all without someone prompting you, whether you can concentrate long enough to cook safely, and what you eat on the days you cannot face it.
Managing therapy or monitoring a health conditionActivity 3 · up to 8 pts
Whether someone reminds you to take your antidepressants, whether they keep your tablets because of a risk of overdose, and support to attend therapy.
Washing and bathingActivity 4 · up to 8 pts
Whether you would wash without someone prompting or encouraging you, and how many days go by when you do not.
Dressing and undressingActivity 6 · up to 8 pts
Whether you would get dressed, change your clothes or put on clean ones without prompting, and whether you stay in night clothes on bad days.
Engaging with other people face to faceActivity 9 · up to 8 pts
Meeting people you do not know: whether you need encouragement or someone with you, and what happens if you try alone.
Planning and following journeysActivity 11 · up to 12 pts
Going out at all: whether you need someone with you to avoid overwhelming distress, and whether there are days you cannot leave the house even with them.
The DWP counts the highest descriptor that applies in each activity. The six activities here are a guide for depression; the calculator covers all twelve, including taking nutrition and making budgeting decisions, where low motivation and poor concentration can also score.
What to write
Weak and strong descriptions, side by side.
The DWP scores what you write against the descriptors. The same difficulty, described two ways, gets two different results.
“I don’t always wash because I’m depressed.”
“I do not wash unless my husband prompts me, usually two or three times before I get in the shower. Left alone I go four or five days without washing, which happens most weeks. When I do shower I am exhausted and go back to bed for the afternoon.”
“I sometimes forget my tablets.”
“My daughter keeps my sertraline and gives me one tablet each morning, because I took too many last March. Before that I missed doses about three days a week because I could not face getting up.”
More worked examples, for six activities: PIP appeal letter examples. If you would rather it was written for you, every answer on the PIP2 form, in this language, for your conditions, is our PIP2 Form Answers service.
Evidence
The evidence that helps a depression claim.
Depression has no scan or blood test, so the DWP relies on what you and the people around you describe, and on your treatment history. These six carry the most weight, in this order.
The assessment
What to expect at a depression assessment.
Most assessments are by phone or video and last 45 to 90 minutes. The assessor is a health professional who does not know you, and they write a report that the DWP decision maker scores. Three things make the difference for depression.
Answer for your usual day, not today
“What did you do this morning?” is about the activities. If you got up early and pushed yourself for the call, say so, and say what a usual morning looks like.
Say the help out loud
The assessor will not ask who reminds you to eat or who held your tablets. Tell them: who prompts you, for what and how often.
Have someone with you, and your diary in front of you
A partner or friend can fill gaps when your concentration goes and can give their own account. Your diary gives you the numbers when you are asked how often.
Our PIP assessment checklist walks through the week before, the day itself and the week after. Ask for a copy of the assessor’s report (the PA4) as soon as you get your decision; it is where most reconsiderations are won.
The official rules on claiming, assessments and payments are on GOV.UK’s PIP pages, and free independent advice is on Citizens Advice’s PIP pages.
Refused or underpaid?
What happens next, and what it is worth.
You have one month from the date on the decision letter to ask for a mandatory reconsideration. In the last year 24.8% of depression reconsiderations changed the award, and if the reconsideration fails, 67% of PIP appeals decided at a tribunal hearing go the claimant’s way (Ministry of Justice, April to June 2026). An award is backdated to the date of your claim, so a standard daily living award overturned after nine months is worth around £3,000 on the day it is granted, before the weekly payments start.
A reconsideration letter that works goes through the decision letter and the assessor’s report point by point, in the DWP’s own language, and attaches the evidence the report ignored. Ours is written by the team and reviewed by Neil, a former DWP decision maker, within 48 hours, for a flat £49. We never take a percentage of your backpay. Use the deadline calculator first so you know your date, and the backpay calculator to see what winning is worth.
Other benefits
Other benefits for depression.
PIP is not the only benefit a depression claim can lead to, and the rules change if you are over State Pension age or in Scotland.
Depression
Postnatal depression: PIP after having a baby
You can claim PIP for postnatal depression in the same way as any depression. What is scored is how you look after yourself, not how you look after your baby, so describe the help you need with your own washing, eating, medication and going out.
PIP is for the effect on your own daily life. Feeding, changing and settling a baby are not PIP activities, so an assessor cannot mark you down because you care for your child, and you do not need to show you cannot. What matters is whether you eat, wash, dress and take your medication without someone prompting you, and whether you can meet people or go out without overwhelming distress.
How long it needs to have lasted
PIP has a qualifying period: you must have had the difficulties for a while before you claim and expect them to continue. Postnatal depression that has lasted, or is expected to last, past the first months after birth often meets it. GOV.UK sets out the eligibility rules. If your depression began in pregnancy, count from when it started, not from the birth.
What to put on the form
- The prompting you get from a partner, parent or friend to eat, wash, take your tablets or get dressed, and how often.
- Whether someone checks on you or holds your medication because of thoughts of harming yourself.
- The days you cannot go out, or can only go out with someone, because of anxiety or low mood.
- Sleep: how broken it is, and how long it takes you to function in the morning. Say which part is the depression, not just a young baby.
Evidence that helps
Letters from your GP, health visitor, midwife or a perinatal mental health team carry real weight, because they see you regularly in this period. PIP is not means-tested, so statutory maternity pay or Maternity Allowance does not affect it. The NHS explains postnatal depression and its treatment.
Keeping up
What changed in 2026.
Kept current by our quarterly data refresh and weekly checks of GOV.UK. Last reviewed .
Related conditions
Conditions that often go with depression.
List every condition on your form; each one can score on different activities. Guides for these are being added; until then each link opens the condition’s own figures.
Questions
Depression and PIP: your questions.
Yes. 101,572 people get PIP with depression as their main condition, and 45.4% of new claims were awarded in the year to July 2026, against 44.8% for all conditions.
PIP is decided on how depression affects your daily life, not on the diagnosis. What counts is the prompting, supervision and support you need to wash, dress, eat, take medication, meet people and go out.
There is no fixed number. You need 8 points across the daily living activities for the standard rate and 12 for the enhanced rate, and the same thresholds for mobility. Prompting with washing, dressing, preparing food and medication is often worth 1 or 2 points each, and they add up.
Our points checker shows every descriptor for all twelve activities.
Yes. PIP does not use the words mild, moderate or severe. It scores what you can and cannot do on most days, so describe your days in full and ask your GP to write about how depression affects you, not just the diagnosis.
No. Medication is not a condition of PIP. If you have stopped or refused antidepressants because of side effects, or you are waiting for talking therapy, say so; it explains your treatment history.
£114.77 a week on average, against £118.77 for all conditions. 42% of awards include enhanced daily living and 23% enhanced mobility. The 2026/27 rates are £76.70 or £114.60 a week for daily living and £30.30 or £80.00 for mobility.
Yes, through planning and following journeys (activity 11). Needing someone with you to make any journey without overwhelming distress is 4 points; being unable to make any journey at all because of the distress is 10 points, enough for the standard mobility rate on its own.
Get help first: contact your GP, NHS 111 or Samaritans, or call 999 in an emergency. For PIP, thoughts of suicide or self-harm are relevant if someone has to supervise your medication or check on you, so tell the assessor if that is your life.
Challenge it. Being dressed and talking for one call says little about your usual days. In your mandatory reconsideration, describe a typical week and point to the evidence the report ignored. 24.8% of depression reconsiderations changed the award in the last year, and 67% of PIP appeals decided at a hearing go the claimant’s way.
Mostly short. 62% of awards are for up to two years and 36% for two to five years. Expect a review form (the AR1) before the end date, and describe your days again in full rather than writing “no change”.
No. The proposal that you must score 4 points in one daily living activity was removed from the Universal Credit and PIP Bill in July 2025. Points from several activities still add up, which matters for depression, where each activity often scores 1 or 2.
Refused, underpaid, or starting your claim?
Upload your decision letter for a free case review by the team, with Neil’s eye over it. If you go ahead, your letter is written for you, for a flat £49. We never take a percentage. You keep 100% of your backpay.
PIPAppeal is a letter-drafting service, not a law firm. It isn’t regulated by a legal body and doesn’t represent claimants at hearings. The DWP decides your claim and the tribunal decides your appeal.
Sources: Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, Schedule 1 and regulation 4(2A) · DWP Stat-Xplore, PIP statistics to July 2026 · Ministry of Justice, Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, April to June 2026 · NICE guideline NG222 on depression in adults · NICE guideline CG192 on antenatal and postnatal mental health · GOV.UK, PIP rates 2026/27.
Last reviewed