A worked example showing how the 12 PIP activities can be described for someone living with obsessive compulsive disorder. Every answer is written in the first person, in the plain wording assessors look for, and each one weaves in the reliability factors that decide how an activity scores.
OCD has almost nothing to do with being tidy or liking things neat, and describing it that way on a form does real damage to a claim. It is an illness made of two parts. First come the obsessions: intrusive thoughts and images that arrive uninvited, will not leave, and carry a horrible certainty that something terrible will happen or that you have already caused harm. Then come the compulsions: washing, checking, counting, repeating, done not because you want to but because the distress is unbearable until they are done. They give a few minutes of relief and then the doubt comes back, so the whole thing starts again. People with OCD usually know the fear is out of proportion, which is part of why it is so exhausting and so often hidden.
On a PIP form the consequence of that matters more than the label. An activity only counts as something you can do if you can do it safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time. With OCD the time factor is usually the heart of the claim. A shower that takes three hours, a five minute job you restart nine times, a meal abandoned because the surface never feels clean, a front door you cannot get through because the plugs have to be checked again: none of that is doing the task in a reasonable time, and a task that never gets finished has not been done to an acceptable standard either. Safety belongs in it too, because scrubbing until skin is cracked, split and infected is harm, not hygiene.
Three things get left out of OCD forms far too often. The first is the clock, so put real numbers in: how long the ritual takes, how many times you repeat it, how much of the day disappears. The second is avoidance. Not cooking, not washing at all for days, not going out, not touching the post: these are consequences of the illness, not choices, and they belong on the form in plain words. The third is the other person, the partner, parent or friend who talks you out of the bathroom, handles the raw ingredients or does the checking for you, because needing that help counts, and so does needing it and not having it. Shame keeps a lot of this off forms. Writing it down plainly is not confessing to anything; it is describing an illness. The example below does that activity by activity. The DWP always makes the final decision, but describing your day accurately gives your form the strongest chance of being understood.
What to cover for each one. Your paid form writes the full answers for you.
This one is only about getting food to your mouth, chewing and swallowing it, so the difficulty with preparing a meal stays at question three. What can count with OCD is being unable to eat unless the plate, cutlery or packaging have been through a washing ritual first, having to eat in a set order or count mouthfuls and start again if it goes wrong, or needing someone to remind you to eat at all because the compulsions have taken the whole day. Say how often that happens and who has to prompt you. If you eat normally once a meal is in front of you, leave this one alone.
Say if the compulsions reach your medication too, such as checking the blister strip over and over, counting doses, or being unable to be sure you have taken one, and whether that leaves doses late, doubled or skipped. Mention the prompts you rely on, a dosette box, alarms or someone handing you the tablets, and any therapy you are having, including how draining it is and sessions you have missed. Explain what happens to your medication on the weeks nobody is there to check.
Explain if using the toilet turns into a long washing or wiping ritual that keeps you in the bathroom far longer than anyone would expect, and give the times and how often a day. Mention sore or broken skin from over-washing, the amount of paper or wipes you get through, and whether you avoid using a toilet away from home at all. Keep it on the time it takes and whether the task can be finished to an acceptable standard, rather than claiming continence problems you do not have.
Describe the rules the OCD puts around clothes: needing everything washed before it can be worn, not being able to put something back on once it has touched the floor or been outside, or dressing in a set order and starting again from scratch if it goes wrong. Say how long that takes on a bad day, and be honest about days you stayed in the same clothes or did not go out because you could not get through it. Mention any prompting or help from another person that breaks the loop.
This covers speech, hearing and taking in what is said to you out loud, and it is separate from reading. What can count with OCD is intrusive thoughts so loud that a conversation goes past you and has to be repeated, or needing someone with you for anything important, such as an appointment, because you cannot trust that you heard it correctly. Asking the same person for reassurance over and over that you understood something belongs here too. If you follow what people say without that support, leave this one alone.
Explain if doubt makes you read the same line or paragraph again and again to be certain it has gone in, so anything long or important takes far longer than it should or does not get read at all. Mention post left unopened because of what it might say or what you might have to touch, and who goes through letters with you instead. Keep this about taking in and holding on to written information, not about your eyesight.
Describe the avoidance honestly: the people and places you keep away from because of contamination fears, the handshakes, hugs or shared seats you cannot manage, and the shame that stops you letting anyone see the rituals. Mention who has to be with you before you can face company, and how often you cancel or do not answer the door. Say what the distress is actually like rather than calling yourself unsociable.
Explain if checking gets in the way of money tasks, such as going over a payment, a balance or the same figures repeatedly, or not being able to send anything because you cannot be sure the numbers are right. Mention bills or decisions left undone, late or in arrears as a result, and who sits with you to make payments and anything bigger. Make clear whether you could manage complex money matters reliably on your own.
Describe the checking that has to be finished before you can leave the house, the plugs, taps, hob, locks and windows, how many times you go back, and how much time it adds or how often the journey does not happen at all. Mention routes, buildings or transport you avoid because of contamination, and anyone you need with you to get out of the door and keep you moving. Keep this separate from how far you can physically walk.
This one asks only about physically standing and walking, so the checking that keeps you at the front door belongs under planning and following a journey instead, and putting it there keeps both answers credible. What can count here is a physical problem alongside your OCD that limits the distance you can manage, and if you have one, say how far you can go repeatedly rather than once at your best. Sore, broken skin from over-washing counts here only if it genuinely stops you walking. If you can stand and walk without pain or aids, leave this one alone.
The tips above are general pointers. Your paid form gives you a full, ready-to-copy answer for all 12 activities, written from your exact conditions, medication, aids and bad days, not a general example. This is a worked example for OCD; yours is written for you. £99.99 one-off.
This is a worked example, not a script. It shows one honest way a person with OCD might describe their worst and most common days, so you can see the level of detail and the plain wording that assessors are trained to look for. Please do not copy it word for word. Your own answers should reflect your obsessions and compulsions, the real time they take, the help you actually get and the help you need but go without, because that is what the assessment is about and that is what makes an answer ring true. OCD takes different forms in different people, so if yours is about checking, counting, repeating, symmetry, hoarding or intrusive thoughts you cannot bring yourself to say out loud, write about what yours actually does to your day rather than the version of OCD people expect.
Some of the activities will not apply to you at all, and that is fine. Being honest about what OCD does not change makes the difficulties you do describe more believable, so there is no need to stretch every question. The suggested descriptor on each card is only there to show which difficulty the answer is pointing at; never write a descriptor letter or a point number on your real form, because the assessor works those out and the decision is always the DWP's. If you would rather start from your own words, tell us about your health and we will write your answers from your own conditions, in the same first-person style, ready for you to read, edit and copy onto your PIP2 claim form or AR1 review form.
Tell us about your OCD in your own words and we will write one full activity for you, free, before you pay anything.
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