The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has over 500 conditions listed that may qualify individuals for the leading disability benefit. While no specific diagnosis or condition guarantees you’ll qualify for the disability benefit, the department has released a list of conditions and categories that current beneficiaries between 2019 and October 2024 successfully claimed for.
The list, which includes 21 categories and 547 conditions, features common disabilities such as psychiatric disorders like OCD, mood disorders, anxiety, and general musculoskeletal diseases like arthritis.
These two categories alone account for over 50% of PIP claimants. However, there are some lesser-known conditions at the bottom of the list, representing the least-claimed disabilities on PIP.
Diseases of the immune system, where the immune system either acts incorrectly or overreacts to certain stimuli, is the category with the fewest claimants according to Stat-Xplore, with roughly 0.04% of people currently receiving the benefit for this reason.
It’s important to note that this doesn’t include autoimmune diseases, which is a separate category of its own, but rather conditions like allergies, Angioedema and hypersensitivity. The second least-claimed category under PIP is a collection of conditions described as ‘Multisystem and Extremes of Age’.
Contrary to what the name suggests, this category doesn’t just cover health issues that arise in old age, but also severe complications at a young age that affect multiple systems, such as premature birth or a childhood condition known as ‘failure to thrive’.
Metabolic diseases are the third least-claimed category under PIP. This includes increasingly common health issues in today’s society like obesity, but also covers rare disorders like porphyria, where the body can’t convert compounds into vital ingredients that form haemoglobin, and amyloidosis, which involves a build-up of amyloid proteins that can affect various organs and systems.
Together, these three categories of disability account for barely more than 0.2% of the total number of PIP claimants. This is even less than the number of conditions listed as ‘unknown or missing’ on the Stat-Xplore data.
Personal Independence Payments, or PIP, is the leading working-age disability benefit, offering successful applicants a range between £28.70 and £184.05 per week depending on the severity of their condition. The assessment criteria doesn’t focus on your diagnosis or the treatments you’re prescribed, but rather how much your daily life and mobility are impacted by your disability.
You might be eligible for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) even if you don’t have a confirmed diagnosis, such as when you’re still undergoing tests. However, care experts at Lottie emphasised that regardless of whether you have a diagnosis or not, you’ll need to provide evidence of how your health impacts your daily activities or mobility.
This proof can be in the form of medical letters and reports from professionals, or a symptom diary that you’ve created yourself.
PIP has two components, each offering higher and lower rates, with the maximum payment totalling just under £800 a month for this benefit alone.
The first component of PIP focuses on how your usual activities like washing, shopping and decision-making are affected, awarding between £72.65 and £108.55 a week. If your mobility is affected due to your health, you may qualify for the second component, which offers between £28.70 and £75.75 per week.
It’s possible to receive any combination of these two components, or even just a higher or lower rate of only one. For instance, if you only struggle with mobility, you may not receive any of the daily living part.
Successful PIP applicants can also be entitled to a number of other benefits, discounts and freebies, as it’s often a qualifying criteria for things like Disabled Persons’ Railcards, Blue Badge schemes and disability premium top-ups on other benefits like Income Support.
