The Short Answer
Daily living activity 6 assesses putting on and taking off appropriate, unadapted clothing suitable for the situation. The assessment guide says it may involve stretching, reaching, bending and gripping. How you choose to dress is irrelevant; functional ability is the test. Descriptors run from 2 points for needing an aid, prompting, or help with the lower body, to 8 points for being unable to dress or undress at all.
| Activity | Daily living activity 6: Dressing and undressing |
|---|---|
| Component | Daily living, scored under regulation 5(3) |
| Descriptors | 6, lettered a to f |
| Points range | 0 to 8 |
| Reaches a threshold alone | Yes — the top descriptor alone reaches the 8-point standard rate |
The Dressing Descriptors
One descriptor is scored, the highest that applies on more than half of the days.
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| a. Can dress and undress unaided. | 0 |
| b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to dress or undress. | 2 |
| c. Needs either - (i) prompting to be able to dress, undress or determine appropriate circumstances for remaining clothed; or (ii) prompting or assistance to be able to select appropriate clothing. | 2 |
| d. Needs assistance to be able to dress or undress their lower body. | 2 |
| e. Needs assistance to be able to dress or undress their upper body. | 4 |
| f. Cannot dress or undress at all. | 8 |
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 8 points.
Three descriptors sit at 2 points and cover very different situations: an aid, prompting, and needing help with the lower body. A physical claim and a mental-health claim can reach the same score here by different routes.
What the Activity Covers
Unadapted clothing, appropriate to the situation. The guide states the activity "assesses a claimant's ability to put on and take off appropriate, un-adapted clothing that is suitable for the situation", and that this "may include the need to use aids, or where the claimant requires prompting, or assistance to dress".
The movements are named directly: "Dressing and undressing may involve stretching, reaching, bending, gripping and other such movements." That sentence is the whole physical case, and it is worth quoting on a form.
Last checked: 7 August 2026
Choice Is Not Function
The guide removes the most common line of refusal. "All claimants should be measured by their level of functional ability rather than by how they choose to dress. The key consideration should be the functions that are involved in dressing and undressing and the claimant's condition that is said to limit their ability to perform those functions."
Wearing slip-on shoes, elasticated waistbands or clothing without fastenings is not evidence that dressing is easy. It is usually evidence of the adaptation that makes it possible, and the aid descriptor is where that belongs.
Upper Body and Lower Body Score Differently
The split is worth getting right, because it is worth 2 points. Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013 scores descriptor 6d — needing assistance to dress or undress the lower body — at 2 points, and descriptor 6e, needing assistance with the upper body, at 4 points.
Lower body covers socks, shoes, trousers and underwear — the bending and reaching-to-the-feet functions. Upper body covers tops, bras, coats and anything requiring the arms to be raised or reached behind the back.
A person who needs help with both scores the higher descriptor, not the sum, because only one descriptor per activity counts.
The Prompting Route
Descriptor c has two limbs, and the second is often the relevant one. It covers needing "prompting to be able to dress, undress or determine appropriate circumstances for remaining clothed", or "prompting or assistance to be able to select appropriate clothing".
Selecting appropriate clothing is a cognitive function. Dressing for the wrong weather, wearing the same clothes for days, or needing someone to lay out an outfit all engage this limb. Determining appropriate circumstances for remaining clothed is the dignity limb, and it matters in dementia and learning disability claims.
Aids That Score Here
Any of these engages descriptor 6b, worth 2 points. Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013 scores needing an aid or appliance to dress or undress at 2 points, and the items below are what that covers in practice.
- A long-handled shoehorn, sock aid or dressing stick
- A button hook or zip pull
- A grabber for reaching clothing
- Adapted or front-fastening clothing
- A perching stool or chair used to dress seated
Conditions That Commonly Score Here
Anything affecting reach, grip, balance, bending or cognition. Arthritis reaches it through gripping fastenings. Back pain, sciatica and osteoarthritis reach it through bending to the feet. COPD reaches it through raising the arms. Depression and autism reach it through the prompting limbs, and dementia through selecting appropriate clothing.
None of them scores by name. Each arrives through a descriptor in Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations 2013: gripping and bending through 6b and 6d at 2 points, raising the arms through 6e at 4 points, and prompting through 6c at 2 points.
Check Your Score
Dressing and undressing 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.