The Short Answer
Diabetes scores PIP points through the activities it limits, not through the diagnosis. The assessment turns on monitoring rather than treating. Eight points in a component pays the standard rate and 12 pays the enhanced rate. The calculator above is pre-filtered to the activities whose published guidance names the functions diabetes is reported to affect.
How Diabetes Scores PIP Points
Each activity below is on the list for a stated reason, and the source is quoted beneath the table. Descriptor letters and point values come verbatim from Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013, and the 8 and 12-point thresholds come from regulations 5(3) and 6(3).
| Activity | What it assesses | Descriptors typically engaged | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily living 3 — Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition | managing medication and monitoring a health condition, including a prescribed diet where failing to adhere would cause immediate deterioration | b, c, d, e, f | 1–8 |
| Daily living 2 — Taking nutrition | taking nutrition, including the timing of food where it is integral to managing the condition | b, d | 2–4 |
| Mobility 2 — Moving around | standing and then moving, judged without severe discomfort such as pain or fatigue | b, c, d, e | 4–12 |
| Daily living 8 — Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words | reading and understanding written information, where the limitation arises from visual impairment | b, c, d | 2–4 |
| Mobility 1 — Planning and following journeys | following the route of a journey, where the limitation arises from sensory impairment | d, f | 10–12 |
| Daily living 4 — Washing and bathing | washing and bathing, including getting in and out of an unadapted bath or shower | b, d, e | 2–3 |
Last checked: 7 August 2026
Where this mapping comes from
Descriptor letters and point values are reproduced from Schedule 1 of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013. The activities listed are the ones whose published assessment guidance names the functions this condition is reported to affect. No activity is listed on any other basis.
Activities are numbered as Schedule 1 numbers them, within each component: daily living 1 to 10 and mobility 1 to 2.
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 3: “Examples of therapy include physiotherapy, home dialysis and special diets where both attention to the nature and timing of food is integral in the management of the diet and where failing to adhere to the diet would result in an immediate deterioration in the claimant's condition (e.g. a hyperglycaemic event for a diabetic).”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 2: “The frequency of taking nutrition should only be considered if the claimant has an underlying condition which affects their ability to remember to eat, or their motivation to eat e.g. dementia or severe clinical depression or an eating disorder.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 12: “This activity considers a claimant's physical ability to move around without severe discomfort, such as breathlessness, pain or fatigue.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 8: “If the claimant cannot read, this must be as a direct result of their health condition or impairment e.g. visual impairment, cognitive impairment, learning disability.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 11: “This activity is designed for limitations on mobility deriving from mental health, cognitive and sensory impairments, whereas activity 12 is generally designed for limitations from physical problems. Cognitive impairment includes orientation (understanding of where, when and who the person is), attention, concentration and memory.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 4: “Consideration should be given to the claimant's functional restrictions to see if they: could reasonably use an aid such as a grab rail to get in or out of an unadapted bath or shower (4B) or whether they require assistance (4E) to get in and out of an unadapted bath or shower.”
Points are added within each component, never across the two. The PIP points calculator scores all 12 activities where the picture is wider than the ones above.
Can You Get PIP for Diabetes?
Yes, where diabetes limits the assessed activities on more than half of the days over a 12-month period. No condition qualifies by name, and none is excluded by name either. The two tests are duration — difficulties expected to last at least 12 months from when they started — and frequency, which GOV.UK states as difficulty "more than half of the days over a 12-month period".
What Rate Could Diabetes Get?
The rate follows the points in each component separately. Daily living pays £76.70 a week at the standard rate and £114.60 at the enhanced rate. Mobility pays £30.30 and £80.00, and the highest combined award is £194.60 a week.
Last checked: 6 August 2026
For this condition the points most often come from managing therapy, where a prescribed diet counts as therapy and monitoring scores in its own right.
Monitoring Is a Scoring Activity, and Diet Can Be Therapy
Diabetes claims are commonly refused because the form describes a well-managed condition, and well-managed is not the question. Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition scores where supervision, prompting or assistance is needed — descriptor 3b covers needing help "to be able to monitor a health condition" and is worth 1 point, and the therapy descriptors above it scale with weekly hours.
The guidance gives diabetes its own worked example, and it is the only condition named in the activity 3 note. Therapy includes "special diets where both attention to the nature and timing of food is integral in the management of the diet and where failing to adhere to the diet would result in an immediate deterioration in the claimant's condition (e.g. a hyperglycaemic event for a diabetic)". Where a prescribed regime is managed with another person's help, that is therapy, not just eating.
Hypoglycaemia is evidence for the supervision limb rather than a descriptor of its own. Where episodes occur without warning and another person has to intervene — a partner who checks overnight, a colleague who recognises the signs — the case is about supervision, and the safety limb of regulation 4 applies to every activity carried out alone.
The complications reach further than the condition. Retinopathy engages reading and, where a route cannot be followed, journeys. Peripheral neuropathy and foot ulceration engage moving around through the distance bands. A claim written entirely about blood sugar leaves those activities blank, and a blank activity is scored at zero rather than held open.
Evidence That Supports a Diabetes Claim
Evidence that names the activity beats evidence that names the diagnosis. Every descriptor above 0 points already assumes the condition is present.
- A diabetes clinic letter confirming the type and the treatment regime
- A record of insulin doses, pump settings or a continuous glucose monitor, and who manages them
- Retinal screening results, where diabetic retinopathy affects reading or journeys
- A podiatry or foot-clinic record, where neuropathy or ulceration affects walking
- A dietitian's letter where the timing and nature of food is prescribed
- A record of hypoglycaemic episodes, including any that needed another person's help
Send what you already have rather than waiting for a new report. Evidence describing what you can do on an ordinary day answers the descriptors; the assessment weighs it against the reliability criteria.
Work Out the Full Picture
The tool above is pre-filtered; the assessment is not. All 12 activities are scored — 10 for daily living and 2 for mobility, set out in Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013 — and points from the two components never combine.
Two tools finish the picture:
- Score every activity in the PIP points calculator, which uses the same verbatim descriptors.
- Compare the pre-filtered tools on the all condition calculators page.
Where an award is already in place and was backdated, the work out your pip back pay tool prices the arrears.
The condition guide, covering evidence and the assessment in full, is on check pip for diabetes.