The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is providing crucial financial support this November, with individuals living with one of 20 specific mental health conditions potentially eligible for payments of up to £749.80.
Understanding Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
Personal Independence Payment, commonly known as PIP, is a vital benefit for working-age adults across Great Britain. It is designed to help with the extra costs associated with long-term physical or mental health conditions and disabilities.
The benefit is split into two components: a daily living part and a mobility part. Claimants can be assessed for one or both of these components, with the level of support determined by how their condition affects them.
Payments are typically made every four weeks. If an individual qualifies for the enhanced rate for both daily living and mobility, they will receive the maximum total of £749.80 per payment period.
The Full List of Qualifying Mental Health Conditions
According to the latest official statistics from the DWP, there were a total of 1,482,217 active PIP claims in payment for mental health conditions as of July this year.
The comprehensive list of the 20 psychiatric disorders that can qualify a person for PIP, along with the number of active claims for each, is detailed below.
- Personality disorder: 56,956 claims
- Specific learning disorder (such as dyslexia and dyspraxia): 36,572 claims
- Stress reactions (such as PTSD): 63,565 claims
- Anxiety disorders (such as agoraphobia): 64,302 claims
- Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD): 11,514 claims
- Mixed anxiety and depressive disorders: 418,963 claims
- Somatoform and dissociative disorders (such as body dysmorphic disorder): 1,934 claims
- Mood disorders (such as bipolar): 150,215 claims
- Psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia): 129,548 claims
- Cognitive disorders (such as dementia): 26,983 claims
- Eating disorders (such as anorexia): 8,076 claims
- Substance (mis)use disorders (such as alcohol misuse): 17,279 claims
- Factitious disorder (such as Munchausen syndrome): 28 claims
- Global learning disability (such as Down's syndrome): 171,691 claims
- Autistic spectrum disorders (such as ASD): 234,519 claims
- Hyperkinetic disorder (such as ADHD): 87,813 claims
- Conduct disorder (such as oppositional defiant disorder): 1,204 claims
- Enuresis (such as bedwetting): 40 claims
- Faecal soiling (such as encopresis): 60 claims
- Other psychiatric disorders of childhood: 952 claims
Recent Increase in PIP Payment Rates
This financial support follows an annual increase to PIP rates that came into effect in April 2025. The government is legally required to raise the value of these benefits each year in line with the inflation rate from the previous September.
The rate of inflation used for the April 2025 uprating was confirmed as 1.7%, based on the Consumer Price Index from September 2024.
This annual adjustment ensures that the value of PIP and other key benefits keeps pace with the rising cost of living, providing consistent and reliable support for those who need it most.
