PIP activity 10: Making budgeting decisions
Making budgeting decisions is activity 10 of the 12 PIP activities, and counts towards the daily living component. Making simple and complex financial decisions, like paying bills or planning purchases. Here’s what it covers, the descriptors and the points each one scores, and what assessors look for.
What this activity looks at
Whether you can make decisions about money, both simple (working out what things cost and the change you’re owed) and complex (household budgets, paying bills, planning future purchases).
Descriptors and points
The assessor picks the one descriptor that best fits you on most days. Only the highest-scoring descriptor that applies counts; points aren’t added up within an activity.
| Descriptor | What it means | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 10A | I can manage complex budgeting decisions unaided | 0 |
| 10B | I need prompting or assistance for complex budgeting decisions | 2 |
| 10C | I need prompting or assistance for simple budgeting decisions | 4 |
| 10D | I cannot make any budgeting decisions at all | 6 |
What the assessor takes into account
- Simple budgeting means working out what things cost and how much change you should get.
- Complex budgeting means managing a household budget, paying bills and planning future purchases.
- Problems with your sight or mobility don’t affect this activity.
- Your difficulty has to come from your health condition, not lifestyle choices.
- Your age, or never having had to budget before, isn’t relevant.
How to describe this on your form
- Describe your worst days, not your best or average days. A descriptor applies if it’s true on more than half of days, and that includes conditions that vary or come in flare-ups.
- An activity only counts as something you can do if you can do it safely, repeatedly, to an acceptable standard, and in a reasonable time (no more than twice as long as someone without your condition). If any of these isn’t true on most days, say so and explain why.
- Be specific. Give distances, how long things take, how often problems happen, and examples of things that have gone wrong.
- Name any help you need using the words the DWP uses: supervision, prompting, assistance, or aids and appliances. “My partner helps me” is too vague; say what they do and why.
- Describe what your condition stops you doing, not just its name. Assessors score how your condition affects you, not the diagnosis.
- Avoid phrases like “I manage”, “I cope”, “I try my best” or “I sometimes have difficulty”. They suggest you can do the activity, and can cost you points.
How points turn into an award
Your points from activities 1 to 10 are added together for the daily living component.
- 8 to 11 points: standard rate, £73.90 a week
- 12 points or more: enhanced rate, £110.40 a week
2026/27 rates. Estimate your points across all 12 activities.
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Choose “Making budgeting decisions”, describe your difficulty in your own words, and see a sample answer written the way assessors score it.
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