A worked example showing how the 12 PIP activities can be described for someone living with schizophrenia. 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.
Schizophrenia is one of the harder conditions to put on a PIP form, because the form asks about separate tasks while the illness affects the whole shape of a day. There are the symptoms most people have heard of: voices that comment on you or talk over everything you are trying to do, and beliefs that you are being watched, followed or talked about, which make being around anybody frightening rather than ordinary. Then there are the symptoms that are far easier to miss and often matter more on a form. Losing the drive to begin anything at all, so meals do not get cooked and washing does not get done. Withdrawing into one room and stopping all contact. Concentration so poor that a page of writing will not go in. On top of all of that sit the effects of the medication that keeps you well, including heavy sedation, weight gain, slowness and a restlessness that makes it hard to sit still.
Because the illness moves between episodes and more settled stretches, the settled period is the trap. The rules are clear that this is not the test. 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, and fluctuation is judged on your worst and most common days rather than your best. Being pulled away from a hot hob by voices is not safe. A meal abandoned halfway through is not done to an acceptable standard. Something that only happens on the one day a week when a relative comes round is not a task you can do repeatedly. Managing something once during a good month does not mean you can manage it reliably across the year, so write about the majority of your days.
Two things are worth stating plainly. The first is that not starting things is a symptom of the illness and not laziness, and it needs describing in that light: say how many days pass without a wash or a cooked meal, and say who has to prompt you before anything happens at all. Prompting, encouragement and supervision all count on this form, and help you need but do not actually get counts too. The second is the person you rely on. If you can only face company, an appointment or leaving the house when someone you trust is with you, write down exactly what they do and what happens on the days nobody is there. It is also worth setting out the practical side of your treatment, such as a depot injection, tablets someone else counts out, blood tests and appointments with your community team, because that is real work in your week. The example below does this 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.
Explain that during an episode you can go a long time without eating, either because you do not register hunger at all or because the voices and your fears about food make you unwilling, and say how often that happens. Mention anyone who has to remind you to eat, put a plate in front of you or sit with you before any food goes in. Keep this to taking food and drink itself, because the difficulty with cooking belongs at the preparing food question.
Describe how your antipsychotic medication actually gets taken and who makes sure of it, whether that is a dosette box, phone alarms, a relative counting the tablets or your community team. If you have a depot injection, say who arranges and gives it, and mention any blood tests or physical health checks you have to attend. Be honest about spells when you stopped your medication and what followed, and about support you need but do not always get.
Say how many days go by without washing when you are unwell, and make clear this is not a choice: the task simply does not get started. Mention the prompting or encouragement you need before you will get in the shower, and any sedation, slowness or unsteadiness from medication that makes it unsafe on your own. Be plain about whether you can keep this up to an acceptable standard on most days rather than on your best one.
This one is about getting on and off the toilet, cleaning yourself afterwards and controlling your bladder and bowel, and schizophrenia often does not reach any of it. What can count is needing prompting or supervision to manage it when you are very unwell, or urgency, constipation or accidents brought on by your medication, so say so plainly if that is your experience and mention any pads or aids you use. If this genuinely is not a problem for you, answer honestly and leave it alone, because that makes the difficulties you do describe more believable.
Explain that on your worst days you stay in the same clothes or do not get dressed at all, and say how many days at a stretch that runs to. Mention who has to prompt you to change, and any difficulty choosing clothes that suit the weather or the occasion. Make clear whether you could do this reliably without someone encouraging you.
Describe how voices talking across a conversation, and thoughts that come out muddled or jump about, mean you lose the thread and people have to repeat themselves, especially on the phone or at an appointment. Mention needing a trusted person with you to take in anything important and go over it with you afterwards. Focus on understanding and being understood rather than on your hearing or your voice.
Explain that poor concentration and sedation mean you read the same lines over and over without them going in, so anything detailed has to be read to you or gone through with you. Mention post left unopened because official letters frighten you, and say who deals with it instead. Keep this about taking in and holding on to written information, not about your eyesight.
Describe how muddled thinking and poor concentration mean bills, statements and budgeting decisions do not get dealt with, and mention anything that has been missed or gone into arrears as a result. Say who sits with you to open post, work out what has to be paid and make any larger money decision, and what happens when they do not. Make clear whether you could manage complex money matters reliably on your own.
Explain what being outdoors does to you, such as the certainty that you are being watched or followed, and describe what that leads to in concrete terms: turning back at the gate, freezing on the pavement, or not going out for weeks. Mention who has to plan the journey, come with you and stay with you, and how many appointments get missed when nobody can. Keep this separate from how far you can physically walk, which belongs at the moving around question.
This question is only about physically standing and moving, so give the distance you can genuinely manage on a normal day and say how long you have to stop for. What can count is a physical condition alongside your illness, or sedation, stiffness or unsteadiness from your medication that genuinely shortens how far you can walk before you have to stop or makes you unsafe on your own. The fear of being outdoors belongs at the journeys question rather than here, so keep the two separate and let them back each other up.
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 schizophrenia; 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 schizophrenia 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 symptoms, your medication and its side effects, the days that go by with nothing done, the help you actually get from someone you trust 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.
Not every one of the 12 activities will apply to you. Being honest about what schizophrenia 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 schizophrenia in your own words and we will write one full activity for you, free, before you pay anything.
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