The Short Answer
Daily living activity 7 assesses expressing and understanding verbal information in your own language. It covers both directions: making yourself understood, and understanding others. Basic and complex information score differently, and communication support can come from a family member as well as a professional. Descriptors run from 2 points for needing an aid to 12 points for being unable to communicate at all even with support.
| Activity | Daily living activity 7: Communicating verbally |
|---|---|
| Component | Daily living, scored under regulation 5(3) |
| Descriptors | 5, lettered a to e |
| Points range | 0 to 12 |
| Reaches a threshold alone | Yes — the top descriptor alone reaches the 12-point enhanced rate |
The Communicating Verbally Descriptors
One descriptor is scored, the highest that applies on more than half of the days.
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can express and understand verbal information unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to speak or hear. | 2 |
| c. Needs communication support to be able to express or understand complex verbal information. | 4 |
| d. Needs communication support to be able to express or understand basic verbal information. | 8 |
| e. Cannot express or understand verbal information at all even with communication support. | 12 |
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 12 points.
This activity contains the only 12-point descriptor in the daily living component. Being unable to express or understand verbal information at all, even with communication support, reaches the enhanced daily living rate on its own.
Both Directions Count
Expressive and receptive communication are assessed together. The guide states that the activity "considers a claimant's ability to communicate verbally with regard to expressive (conveying) communication and receptive (receiving and understanding) communication in one's native language".
Difficulty in either direction engages the activity. A person who speaks clearly but cannot follow what is said to them scores here as surely as a person whose speech is unclear.
Last checked: 7 August 2026
The Clarity Test
Understandable with extra concentration is still acceptable; hand gestures and notes are not. The guide gives the boundary through an example: "In some cases the other participant in the conversation may have to concentrate slightly harder than normal, for example after a certain type of stroke it can be hard to articulate some sounds in speech. The speech sounds different to normal but is understandable. This is to an acceptable standard in the meaning of the descriptor."
And the other side: "If the claimant couldn't make themselves understood and had to resort to hand gestures and writing notes this would not be to an acceptable standard."
Basic and Complex Information
The difference is sentence structure, and it is worth 4 points. Descriptor c covers complex information at 4 points; descriptor d covers basic information at 8.
The guide defines them by example. Basic verbal information is "information conveyed in a simple sentence: 'Can I help you?', 'I would like tea please', 'I came home today', 'The time is 3 o'clock'". Complex verbal information is "information conveyed in either more than one sentence or one complicated sentence, for example: 'I would like tea please, just a splash of milk and no sugar, as I always have sweeteners with me for when I go out'".
Most claims that engage this activity sit at complex rather than basic. A person who manages a shop transaction but cannot follow a GP consultation is describing descriptor c.
What Communication Support Means
Broader than an interpreter. The guide defines it as "support from another person trained or experienced in communicating with people with specific communication needs (for example, a sign language interpreter); or someone directly experienced in communicating with the claimant themselves (for example, a family member or carer)".
A partner who rephrases what a doctor said is communication support. The guide also confirms that a descriptor applies even where the support is not currently available: individuals who "would need communication support to do so should receive the appropriate descriptor even if they do" not have it.
Sign language is inside the activity, not outside it: "Verbal information can include information that is interpreted from verbal into non-verbal form or vice-versa."
This Activity and Engaging With Other People Are Separate
Scoring on one does not exclude the other. The guide states that where a claimant needs support to engage under activity 9 "as well as communication support under activity 7, then their needs must be considered under both activities". Two scores, not one.
Conditions That Commonly Score Here
Hearing loss, speech and language conditions, and cognitive impairments. Deafness and hearing loss reach it through the aid and support descriptors. Stroke and Parkinson's reach it through articulation. Autism and learning disability reach it through understanding complex information. Multiple sclerosis reaches it where speech or processing is affected.
Check Your Score
Communicating verbally 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.