PIP for Skin Conditions: Points, Rates and How to Qualify

The Short Answer

Yes, you can get PIP with a skin condition such as eczema or psoriasis if its effects on daily activities score at least 8 points in a component; no skin condition qualifies by name. The activities most often engaged are preparing food, washing and bathing, dressing and undressing, managing medication and moving around. A descriptor counts when it applies on more than half of the days over 12 months. Twelve points in a component gives the enhanced rate.

Can You Get PIP for a Skin Condition?

Yes, PIP can be awarded for a skin condition when its effects on the 12 assessed activities score at least 8 points in the daily living or mobility component. Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013 scores tasks, not diagnoses, and it names no condition. The qualifying conditions guide shows how the same rule applies across other diagnoses.

Regulations 5 and 6 set the thresholds: 8 points in a component gives the standard rate and 12 points gives the enhanced rate. The components are scored separately.

Each descriptor is judged over a required period, which regulation 7(3) sets as the 3 months ending with the prescribed date together with the 9 months after it. GOV.UK adds that you expect the difficulties to last at least 12 months from when they started.

Which PIP Activities Can Skin Conditions Affect?

Five activities use wording that turns on tasks a skin condition can limit: preparing food, managing medication, washing and bathing, dressing and undressing, and moving around. Schedule 1 defines each task narrowly, and the definitions show what each activity measures.

Last checked: 30 September 2026

An activity counts a descriptor only where the task can be done safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time. Regulation 4(2A) sets those four tests.

Engaging with other people (daily living 9) applies only where distress relates to an enduring mental health condition or an intellectual or cognitive impairment, which is how Schedule 1 defines psychological distress.

PIP for Eczema

Eczema is assessed by the tasks it limits, and the descriptors below are the ones whose wording turns on aids and on help from another person. Where eczema on the hands limits handling food or water, the preparing food descriptors apply. Limits on washing or dressing are scored under the Washing and Bathing activity and the Dressing and Undressing activity descriptors.

Last checked: 30 September 2026

Schedule 1 has no activity for itching or for sleep. A symptom counts through its effect on a listed task.

PIP for Psoriasis

Psoriasis is assessed on the same activities, and the washing and dressing descriptors are the ones most often engaged. The descriptors score the need for aids and help, whichever area of skin is affected.

Last checked: 30 September 2026

Psoriatic arthritis affects the joints rather than the skin. PIP for Arthritis names it and maps the joint-related activities.

PIP for Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Hidradenitis suppurativa is assessed on the moving around distance bands where lesions limit walking, and on washing and dressing where they limit those tasks. Moving around is scored on moving around distances: how far a person can stand and then move, with or without an aid.

Last checked: 30 September 2026

Where a condition flares and settles, regulation 7 applies: the descriptor satisfied on over 50% of the days of the required period is the one scored.

Does Applying Creams or Dressings Count as Managing Therapy?

Applying a cream is not managing therapy under Schedule 1, because the definition of therapy excludes taking or applying medication, whether orally, topically or by any other means. A prescribed cream is assessed as medication instead. Under the managing treatments descriptors, descriptor b scores 1 point where a person needs an aid, or supervision, prompting or assistance, to manage medication.

The PIP Assessment Guide lists creams among its examples of medication, and it describes therapy as non-pharmaceutical treatment. Its own example of therapy time is 15 minutes of assistance a day with applying compression bandages. Descriptors c to f measure the time another person spends supervising, prompting or assisting, which the guide distinguishes from the duration of the therapy itself.

Last checked: 30 September 2026

Is There a DWP List of Skin Conditions That Qualify?

No, the PIP Regulations 2013 contain no list of skin conditions that qualify for PIP, and Schedule 1 names no condition at all. Awards follow the points scored across the 12 activities. DWP publishes quarterly PIP statistics, with detailed breakdowns on Stat-Xplore. Those figures count awards already decided and do not set who qualifies.

How Many PIP Points Could You Score?

A skin condition has no fixed points total, because the score is the sum of the highest descriptor that applies in each activity of a component. Where two descriptors apply in one activity, regulation 7 gives the one that scores higher.

The example below is arithmetic only, using Schedule 1 points. It is not a forecast of any decision.

Last checked: 30 September 2026

To test your own combination, work out your daily living points for that component, then add up your points across both components.

What Evidence Supports a Skin Condition Claim?

Evidence that names the task affected answers the question the descriptors ask, which the diagnosis alone does not. Suitable evidence includes:

• A dermatology or GP letter recording the diagnosis and the tasks it limits
• Dated photographs of flare days, kept alongside a diary of the tasks affected on each day
• A repeat prescription list, because prescribed medication is assessed under managing therapy or monitoring a health condition
• A statement from a person who helps with daily tasks

Record ordinary days as well as the worst ones. A descriptor is scored on over 50% of the days, so the record needs to show how often it applies. The guide to evidence for a PIP claim sets out what a decision maker reads.

How Much PIP Would You Get With Skin Conditions, and Is It Backdated?

PIP pays the same four weekly rates whatever the condition: £76.70 or £114.60 for daily living and £30.30 or £80.00 for mobility in 2026/27. No skin condition carries its own amount.

Last checked: 30 September 2026

These are the GOV.UK amounts for 2026/27, and the four weekly PIP rates are set out in full on the rates page. An award runs from the date of the claim, so the months spent waiting for a decision are paid as arrears. The calculator estimates back pay from the date of claim for any award.