A worked example showing how each of the 12 PIP activities can be described by someone living with the lasting effects of a stroke. 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.
A stroke is an event, but this form is not about the event. Nobody is asking about the ambulance, the scan or the weeks on the ward. The questions are all in the present tense, and they are about the part that stayed: the arm and leg that never came fully back, the words that will not come out, the tiredness that arrives every afternoon, and the memory and concentration that are not what they were. That is what needs to be on the form. If your answers describe the stroke itself rather than the life you live now, the most important information is missing.
Aphasia is the hardest of these to write down, because from the outside it can look like slowness or shyness. In truth the word is often there and simply will not come out. You know exactly what the object in front of you is, you can picture using it, and the name of it is locked away. Conversation runs off without you, so when someone talks quickly, or two people talk at once, or the television is on in the background, you lose the thread within a few sentences and cannot get it back. What you need is time, short sentences, things repeated, and very often another person to speak on your behalf at the GP surgery or on the telephone. All of that belongs in your answers, in plain words.
Then there is what nobody warns you about: post-stroke fatigue, which is not ordinary tiredness and does not improve with a nap, and the change in thinking, planning and memory that makes everyday tasks slip. Both are worse later in the day, which is why the same task can be possible at nine in the morning and impossible at three in the afternoon. This is where the reliability rules do the work. 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. Dressing with one working hand in forty minutes is not doing it in a reasonable time. Managing a conversation only when someone slows down and repeats themselves is not doing it unaided. Being able to do something once in the morning but not again by teatime is not doing it repeatedly.
One more trap is worth naming: the word "recovery". Hospital letters say you made a good recovery, family say you are doing well, and both can be true while you still cannot fasten a bra, follow a phone call or walk to the end of the road. Describing what is left is not ingratitude and it is not exaggeration.Not every one of the 12 activities will apply to you, and leaving one alone is the honest answer, because an honest form is a stronger form. The DWP always makes the final decision, but describing your real days 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.
Describe what a weak or unusable hand means in a kitchen: not being able to hold a vegetable while you peel it, not being able to steady a pan, and not being able to carry anything hot while you need your good hand for balance. Mention aids you rely on such as a spiked chopping board, a perching stool or a kettle tipper, and anyone who has to be there in case you scald yourself. If cognitive changes mean you have left a hob or a grill on, say so plainly, and say how much later in the day you stop being safe.
This question is about the act of taking food and drink rather than about cooking, and for many people the swallowing problems of the first weeks settle down. What can count is a swallowing difficulty that has stayed, thickened fluids or a soft diet, needing someone to cut your food up because you only have one working hand, or needing reminding to eat and drink because of memory changes. If any of that is true, say so plainly here, and if eating is genuinely fine once a plate is in front of you, answer honestly and leave this one alone.
Explain the practical side first: whether you can get tablets out of a blister pack with one working hand, and whether someone else has to pop them out or fill a dosette box for you. Then cover memory and understanding, including missed or doubled doses, and who checks that you have taken them. If you have exercises from a physiotherapist or speech therapy work to do at home, describe how much time that takes each week and whether you need someone with you to do it properly.
Describe washing with one hand and what that makes impossible, such as washing your affected arm and armpit, washing your back, or lathering your hair. Mention the shower seat, grab rails or long-handled sponge you use, and whether someone has to be in the house or within earshot because of your balance. Explain how long it takes, how much it takes out of you afterwards, and whether there are days when washing does not happen because you have not the energy for it.
This one covers getting on and off the toilet, cleaning yourself afterwards and controlling your bladder and bowel, and a stroke reaches it for some people and not for others. What can count is needing a rail, a raised seat or someone to steady you because of a weak side, not being able to clean yourself properly with one working hand, or urgency and accidents because you cannot get there in time. If you manage all of it yourself, answer honestly and leave this one alone, even if it takes you longer than it used to.
Aphasia after a stroke often affects written words as well as spoken ones, so say whether letters, forms and labels still make sense to you. Describe reading the same short paragraph several times and still not knowing what it said, losing your place, or knowing a word by sight but not being able to sound it out. Mention who opens and reads your post with you and explains it, and give a real example of something important that was missed. Keep this about taking in the information rather than about your eyesight.
Explain what the communication difficulty does to your confidence with people: whether you avoid company because you cannot keep up, whether you have stopped seeing friends, and whether you need someone with you to talk for you before you will go anywhere. Describe any frustration, low mood or tearfulness that comes with it, which is very common after a stroke and belongs on the form. Keep this to how you manage face to face with people, not to how far you can walk.
Describe what has changed with numbers and paperwork since your stroke: working out change in a shop, understanding a bill, or keeping track of what has gone out of your account. Mention anyone who now handles the banking, checks statements with you or has been added to your account, and say what happened before that help was in place, such as bills left unpaid or the same one paid twice. Make clear whether you could manage those decisions reliably on your own.
Say whether you can work out a route at all now, and what happens on an unfamiliar one, including getting confused about where to get off, missing a stop or not being able to ask anyone for directions. Explain that if something went wrong part way you could not telephone for help or explain yourself to a stranger, which is why someone comes with you. Mention the effect of fatigue on the way home. Remember this activity is about planning and following a route, not about how far you can walk.
Give the distance you can manage on a normal day, how long you have to stop for, and whether you could do it again afterwards, because being unable to repeat it is central to this activity. Describe the weak leg, any foot drop, catching your toe or stumbling, and the aid you use, such as a stick, a frame or a splint. Say whether someone has to walk with you in case you fall, and be clear about how much shorter the distance gets in the afternoon when the fatigue is at its worst.
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 stroke; yours is written for you. £99.99 one-off.
This is a worked example, not a script. It shows one honest way a person living with the after-effects of a stroke might describe an ordinary day, 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 stroke and what it left you with, which side is affected, what your speech and understanding are like on a bad afternoon, and the help you actually get or go without, because that is what the assessment is about and that is what makes an answer ring true.
Two things are worth repeating. First, write about now, not about the stroke itself; the date and the hospital details go elsewhere on the form, and these questions want the lasting difficulty. Second, not every one of the 12 activities will apply to you. Being honest about what your stroke does not change makes the difficulties you do describe far more believable, so there is no need to stretch every question. 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. If aphasia makes writing hard, someone else can put your words in for you.
Tell us about your stroke and what it left you with, in your own words, and we will write one full activity for you, free, before you pay anything.
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