The Short Answer
Epilepsy scores PIP points through the activities it limits, not through the diagnosis. The assessment turns on supervision — the continuous presence of another person to avoid a harm occurring. 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 epilepsy is reported to affect.
How Epilepsy 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 1 — Preparing food | preparing and cooking a simple meal safely, which the guidance addresses directly for unpredictable altered consciousness | d, e | 2–4 |
| Daily living 4 — Washing and bathing | washing and bathing, where the continuous presence of another person is needed to avoid harm | c, f | 2–4 |
| Mobility 1 — Planning and following journeys | planning and following journeys, including where the risk of a fall arises from altered consciousness | b, d | 4–10 |
| Daily living 3 — Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition | managing therapy at home, including anti-epileptic medication, timing and blood monitoring | b, c | 1–2 |
| Daily living 5 — Managing toilet needs or incontinence | managing toilet needs, where supervision or prompting is needed for safety | c | 2 |
| Daily living 9 — Engaging with other people face to face | engaging with other people face to face, where seizure risk or post-ictal confusion limits it | b | 2 |
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 1: “For claimants who experience seizures 1e might apply to those where there is strong evidence that the altered consciousness is unpredictable and that they would not reliably be able to use a microwave.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, supervision: “supervision – A need for the continuous presence of another person for the purpose of ensuring the claimant's safety to avoid a harm occurring.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 11: “However, where the fall arises as a result of a sensory or cognitive impairment (for example, seizures associated with loss of consciousness) the risk of the fall to a claimant's safety would be applicable under activity 11.”
- 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.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 5: “This activity considers a claimant's ability to get on and off the toilet, to manage evacuation of the bladder and/or bowel and to clean afterwards.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 9: “This activity is designed for limitations on social engagement deriving from mental health, cognitive and learning impairments.”
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 Epilepsy?
Yes, where epilepsy 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 Epilepsy 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 cooking and bathing, where supervision descriptors score 4 and 8 points.
Why Supervision Is the Descriptor That Fits Epilepsy
Supervision has a defined meaning in the assessment, and it is the concept epilepsy most often engages. The guide defines it as "a need for the continuous presence of another person for the purpose of ensuring the claimant's safety to avoid a harm occurring". Someone who cannot bathe alone because an unwitnessed seizure in water would be dangerous needs supervision, whether or not a seizure happens on the day.
Cooking safety is addressed by name. The guide states that for claimants who experience seizures, descriptor 1e "might apply to those where there is strong evidence that the altered consciousness is unpredictable and that they would not reliably be able to use a microwave", and separately notes that "someone with very frequent but predictable seizures should be able to use a conventional cooker". Predictability, not frequency, is what the guidance turns on.
Falls arising from seizures are scored on the cognitive mobility activity rather than the physical one. The guide states that "where the fall arises as a result of a sensory or cognitive impairment (for example, seizures associated with loss of consciousness) the risk of the fall to a claimant's safety would be applicable under activity 11". Claims that put this under moving around are answering the wrong question.
Post-ictal recovery is part of the frequency count. A seizure that costs the following day means the descriptor applies on both days, and the majority-of-days test is applied across a 12-month period rather than to a settled month. A seizure diary that records recovery time as well as seizure time is what makes that arithmetic checkable.
Evidence That Supports a Epilepsy Claim
Evidence that names the activity beats evidence that names the diagnosis. Every descriptor above 0 points already assumes the condition is present.
- A neurology clinic letter recording seizure type, frequency and whether control has been achieved
- A repeat prescription list covering anti-epileptic drugs, with any recent changes
- A seizure diary kept over several months, recording date, type, duration and recovery time
- A record of injuries, burns or ambulance call-outs following a seizure
- Correspondence about a driving licence surrender or refusal, where it applies
- A written statement from a person who supervises you, describing when and why
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 epilepsy.