The Short Answer
Hypermobility & EDS can qualify for PIP where it limits the assessed activities on more than half of the days over a 12-month period. The assessment turns on grip, joint instability and the risk of falls rather than on the Beighton score. Points come from the descriptors the condition engages, not from the diagnosis, and both components can reach either rate.
How Hypermobility & EDS Affects the 12 Activities
The activities below are the ones whose published assessment guidance names the functions hypermobility and EDS is commonly reported to affect.
| Activity | What it assesses | Descriptors typically engaged | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily living 1 — Preparing food | preparing and cooking a simple meal, including chopping and peeling, which turns on grip and dexterity | b, c | 2 |
| Daily living 6 — Dressing and undressing | dressing and undressing, which involves stretching, reaching, bending and gripping | b, d, e | 2–4 |
| Daily living 4 — Washing and bathing | washing and bathing, including balance and getting in and out of a bath or shower | b, c, e | 2–3 |
| Mobility 2 — Moving around | standing and then moving, including gait, speed and the risk of falls | b, c | 4–8 |
| Daily living 3 — Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition | managing therapy at home, including physiotherapy regimes, bracing and joint protection | b, c | 1–2 |
| Daily living 2 — Taking nutrition | taking nutrition, including where an aid is needed to hold or cut with cutlery | b | 2 |
| Daily living 5 — Managing toilet needs or incontinence | managing toilet needs, including where an aid or rail is needed | 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 example, if a claimant cannot chop vegetables without an aid due to weakness in their hands, then it would be expected that they would struggle to undertake other activities requiring similar dexterity.”
- DWP PIP Assessment Guide, activity 6: “Dressing and undressing may involve stretching, reaching, bending, gripping and other such movements.”
- 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 12: “This includes, but is not limited to, the claimant's gait, their speed, the risk of falls and symptoms or side effects that could affect their ability to complete the activity, such as pain, breathlessness and fatigue.”
- 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 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 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.”
The remaining activities are not closed; they are simply less often engaged. Where hypermobility and EDS coexists with another condition, the whole assessment is in play, and a claim described under one heading alone will leave those activities blank.
Points You Could Score
8 points in a component pays the standard rate; 12 points pays the enhanced rate. Regulations 5 and 6 of the PIP Regulations 2013 set both thresholds, and the two components are scored separately so their points never combine.
The guidance builds in a dexterity read-across: a grip that fails on a knife is expected to fail on buttons, taps and cutlery, which links four activities into one consistent account.
To score your own case activity by activity, use PIP for Hypermobility & EDS, which is pre-filtered to the activities above.
Evidence and Assessment
Evidence that names an activity beats evidence that names the diagnosis. The diagnosis is rarely disputed; what the descriptors ask about is what happens when you attempt a task.
- A rheumatology, genetics or hypermobility clinic letter recording the diagnosis and the criteria applied
- A Beighton score recorded in a clinical letter
- A physiotherapy referral or discharge letter, with the joint protection or strengthening regime
- A record of subluxations or dislocations, including any A&E attendance or relocation
- An occupational therapy assessment listing splints, braces, aids and adaptations
- A dated log of the joints affected on each day, and what each one prevented
A record of subluxations and dislocations, with any A&E attendance, dates the instability, and an occupational therapy list of splints and aids maps onto the aid descriptors.
At the appointment itself, the reliability criteria are what to keep in view: an activity counts as done only where it can be done safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time. Those four elements come from regulation 4 of the PIP Regulations 2013, and each is a separate ground on which a task can fail. What the PIP assessment guide covers, and how to prepare, is set out on the assessment hub.
Rates and Back Pay for Hypermobility & EDS Claims
The same rates as any award, and the same backdating rules.
| Award | Weekly | Every 4 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Daily living standard | £76.70 | £306.80 |
| Daily living enhanced | £114.60 | £458.40 |
| Mobility standard | £30.30 | £121.20 |
| Mobility enhanced | £80.00 | £320.00 |
Last checked: 6 August 2026
An award runs from the date of the claim, so the months spent waiting for a decision are paid as arrears rather than lost. Where a claim is refused and later won at reconsideration or tribunal, the award still reaches back to the original claim date.
Where Hypermobility & EDS Sits Among Other Conditions
No condition ranks above another, because the regulations name none of them. Hypermobility & EDS is assessed on the same 12 activities as every other condition, and the list of conditions that can qualify for PIP exists to show how each maps onto those activities rather than to rank them.