The Short Answer
Daily living activity 10 assesses whether you can make budgeting decisions, simple or complex. It turns on cognitive function alone: the guide states that reduced vision or mobility does not score here. Simple decisions score higher than complex ones, because failing at the simpler task shows the greater impairment. Descriptors run from 2 points to 6 for being unable to make any budgeting decisions at all.
| Activity | Daily living activity 10: Making budgeting decisions |
|---|---|
| Component | Daily living, scored under regulation 5(3) |
| Descriptors | 4, lettered a to d |
| Points range | 0 to 6 |
| Reaches a threshold alone | No — this activity always needs points from other activities |
The Budgeting Decisions Descriptors
One descriptor is scored, the highest that applies on more than half of the days.
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can manage complex budgeting decisions unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make complex budgeting decisions. | 2 |
| c. Needs prompting or assistance to be able to make simple budgeting decisions. | 4 |
| d. Cannot make any budgeting decisions at all. | 6 |
Last checked: 7 August 2026
Reproduced verbatim from Schedule 1 of the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, as amended. The highest descriptor this activity can score is 6 points.
The ordering surprises people. Complex decisions score 2 and simple decisions score 4, because a person who cannot work out change in a shop has a greater impairment than one who cannot plan a household budget.
What the Two Levels Mean
The guide defines both, with examples. Complex budgeting decisions are "those that are involved in calculating household and personal budgets, managing and paying bills and planning future purchases". It expands: "knowing how much money is left to spend once bills and rent is paid", "setting aside money from income for gas and electricity bills" and "knowing that saving is required when necessary".
Simple budgeting decisions are "those that are involved in activities such as calculating the cost of goods and change required following purchases".
Last checked: 7 August 2026
There is a ceiling as well as a floor: "This activity does not include the sort of decisions which require financial knowledge, such as calculating interest rates or comparing mortgages. This is well beyond what is considered as complex."
Cognitive Function Is the Whole Test
The guide states it twice, in different words. "The age of the person or whether they have ever done any household budgeting is irrelevant — it is their ability to make budgeting decisions and their level of cognitive function that is relevant."
And the exclusion: "Reduced vision or mobility does not impact on making budgeting decisions. The fact that a person's limited sight or mobility make it difficult for them to see price tags in shops or get about may mean that they require someone else to read or help with travel, but it does not itself give rise to" a score here.
That directs a visual impairment to the reading activity and a mobility problem to the mobility component, which is where each will actually score.
What Assistance Means Here
Someone doing part of the decision, not all of it. The guide states that "assistance in this activity refers to another person carrying out elements, although not all, of the decision making process for the claimant".
Where another person makes every financial decision, descriptor d applies at 6 points — being unable to make any budgeting decisions at all. Where they check, remind or do part of it, the prompting and assistance descriptors apply instead.
Evidence That Answers This Activity
Consequences, dated. This is one of the few activities where the evidence writes itself, because financial difficulty leaves records.
- Arrears letters, disconnection notices or missed direct debits
- Bank statements showing impulsive or duplicated spending
- An appointee or power of attorney arrangement, where one exists
- A statement from whoever manages the money, describing what they do
- A debt adviser's or support worker's letter
A claim that says budgeting is difficult without any of this is harder to score than one that shows two missed bills and who now pays them.
Conditions That Commonly Score Here
Cognitive and mental health conditions. ADHD reaches it through impulsivity and the simple-decisions limb. Bipolar disorder reaches it through spending during elevated periods. Depression reaches it through the prompting limb. Learning disability, autism, dementia and acquired brain injury reach it through cognitive function directly.
Check Your Score
Making budgeting decisions is one of ten daily living activities, and points add across all of them. Score it alongside the rest in the PIP points calculator, or read the full set on all 12 PIP descriptors.