The Short Answer
Heart Conditions scores PIP points through the activities it limits, not through the diagnosis. The assessment turns on exertion tolerance, measured as the distance you can move without severe discomfort. 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 a heart condition is reported to affect.
How Heart Conditions 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobility 2 — Moving around | standing and then moving without severe discomfort, which the guidance names as including breathlessness | b, c | 4–8 |
| Daily living 4 — Washing and bathing | washing and bathing, where exertion, bending or heat provoke breathlessness | b, c, e | 2–3 |
| Daily living 6 — Dressing and undressing | dressing and undressing, which involves stretching, reaching and bending | b, d, e | 2–4 |
| Daily living 1 — Preparing food | preparing and cooking a simple meal, including standing at a hob for the length of the task | b, c | 2 |
| Daily living 3 — Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition | managing therapy at home, including anticoagulation monitoring, diuretics and daily weights | b, c | 1–2 |
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 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 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.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 6: “Dressing and undressing may involve stretching, reaching, bending, gripping and other such movements.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 1: “If an individual cannot cook at all because they have never needed to learn, consider their ability to carry out activities at or above waist height and their cognitive ability to use a stove or microwave if shown how.”
- 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.”
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 Heart Conditions?
Yes, where a heart condition 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 Heart Conditions 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 moving around, where the distance bands run from 4 points at 50 to 200 metres to 12 points below 20 metres.
Why Exertion Tolerance Is Measured in Metres, Not in Diagnosis
The moving around activity is a distance test and the guidance says so directly: it "considers a claimant's physical ability to move around without severe discomfort, such as breathlessness, pain or fatigue", including "the claimant's gait, their speed, the risk of falls and symptoms or side effects". An ejection fraction does not score; the distance managed before stopping does, in the bands Schedule 1 sets.
Reliability is where cardiac claims are most often under-recorded. The guide states that "symptoms such as pain, fatigue and breathlessness should be considered when determining whether an activity can be carried out repeatedly". Walking 100 metres once and then needing to sit for ten minutes is not walking 100 metres reliably, and the descriptor follows the reliable distance.
Treatment burden scores separately from symptoms. Daily weights, fluid restriction, INR monitoring and a diuretic regime managed at home all engage activity 3, which asks about the help needed to manage therapy rather than about the condition being treated.
Evidence That Supports a Heart Conditions Claim
Evidence that names the activity beats evidence that names the diagnosis. Every descriptor above 0 points already assumes the condition is present.
- A cardiology clinic letter recording the diagnosis, ejection fraction or NYHA class
- A repeat prescription list covering diuretics, anticoagulants, beta blockers and antianginals
- Records of admissions, cardioversions, angioplasty or device implantation
- An exercise tolerance test or six-minute walk test result referenced in a clinic letter
- Cardiac rehabilitation notes, with attendance and the limits recorded
- A dated log of the tasks that provoke breathlessness or chest pain and how long recovery takes
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 heart conditions.