PIP
PIP evidence diary for ADHD: record the daily impact, day by day
PIP is scored on how your condition affects listed daily living and mobility activities on the majority of days, and only where you can do things safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time. A dated diary kept over 2 to 4 weeks is strong evidence for the claim form, the assessment and any appeal, because it captures frequency and the prompting you needed rather than what memory keeps. This free printable diary is structured around the same activities as the PIP regulations, one entry a day including good days. Information only, not benefits advice: the DWP decides every claim.
Information only, not benefits advice. The DWP decides which descriptors apply, usually after an assessment. Activities and reliability rules are from the Social Security (PIP) Regulations 2013, as used by our points self-checker (verified 19 July 2026).
Start by scoring yourself against the real descriptors with the PIP points self-checker: it shows which activities are likely to matter in your claim, and this diary then documents them day by day. The full template in the download is reproduced below.
How to use the diary
- One entry per day, even on good days: "today was manageable because my partner prompted me through the morning" is evidence too.
- Record help you needed, not just help you got. If no one prompts you and things simply do not happen, write that down.
- Note how long things took and whether the result was up to an acceptable standard: the reliability tests are where ADHD claims are won and lost.
- Keep 2 to 4 weeks of entries, then transfer the strongest dated examples into the claim form.
The daily entry
Each day starts with: date, whether medication was taken (if prescribed), and an overall marker (good day, mixed, bad day). Then, for each area below, note what happened, what prompting or help you needed, how long things took, and whether the result was acceptable.
| PIP activity | Daily prompt |
|---|---|
| Preparing food | Did you cook a simple meal? Needed prompting? Gave up, grazed or skipped? |
| Taking nutrition (eating and drinking) | Meals skipped or forgotten? Needed reminding? |
| Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition | Medication remembered? Appointments made or missed? Monitoring done? |
| Washing and bathing | Needed prompting? Skipped despite intending to? |
| Dressing and undressing | Needed prompting or reminders to dress appropriately? |
| Communicating verbally | Conversations derailed? Needed things repeated or written down? |
| Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words | Letters or forms avoided, misread or abandoned? |
| Engaging with other people face to face | Avoided people? Needed someone with you? Overwhelm or conflict? |
| Making budgeting decisions | Bills missed? Impulsive spending? Needed someone else to handle money decisions? |
| Planning and following journeys | Journey avoided or abandoned? Got lost? Needed someone with you? Overwhelming anxiety about going out? |
The entry ends with a free line for anything else that day (time lost, risks taken, meltdowns or shutdowns, what it cost you) and a line for who saw it or helped, with their name and relationship, for corroborating evidence. The activity names above are the real Schedule 1 activities scored in a claim; the descriptors guide explains how each is pointed.
The weekly summary
Every 7 days, the template asks three questions:
- On how many of the 7 days did each difficulty show up? The majority-of-days test is central to every descriptor.
- Where you did manage an activity, was it safe, to an acceptable standard, repeatable, and in a reasonable time? Note where it was not.
- What are the best single examples this week to quote on the form?
Next steps: the diary feeds directly into the claim, step by step. If a decision goes against you, dated diary evidence carries into mandatory reconsideration and appeal.
Sources and basis
The activities in the daily entry are the daily living and mobility activities from the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, Schedule 1, as used by our points self-checker (verified 19 July 2026). The reliability tests (safely, acceptable standard, repeatedly, reasonable time) and the majority-of-days rule are from the same regulations.
Keeping an impact diary as claim evidence reflects standard published welfare-rights practice. This page is information only, not benefits advice; free personal help is available from Citizens Advice and local welfare rights services.
Frequently asked questions
Why keep a diary instead of just filling in the PIP form?
Because PIP turns on the majority of days and on reliability, and memory flattens both. A dated diary kept over 2 to 4 weeks shows how often each difficulty actually happens, catches the prompting you needed rather than the crisis stories you remember, and gives you dated, specific examples to quote in the form, at the assessment, and at mandatory reconsideration or appeal if it comes to that.
Should I record good days too?
Yes, always. The DWP tests whether descriptors apply on the majority of days, so a diary with only bad days reads as selective. A good day entry is often evidence in itself: "today was manageable because my partner prompted me through the morning" documents a need for prompting, and a genuinely fine day simply makes the diary credible.
What counts as needing help if no one actually helps me?
The need counts, not the current arrangement. If you live alone and no one prompts you, but without prompting you do not cook, wash or open post to an acceptable standard on the majority of days, that is a need for prompting: write down what did not happen and why. Assessors and tribunals look at what you need to do the activity reliably, not at whether someone happens to provide it.
How long should I keep the diary before claiming?
Two weeks is a reasonable minimum to show a majority-of-days pattern; four is stronger, especially if your symptoms fluctuate. If you have already started a claim, keep the diary anyway: the assessment is usually weeks away, and dated entries made before the assessment are useful corroboration at every later stage.
This page is information only, not benefits advice, and no outcome is guaranteed. The DWP decides every claim after its own assessment. Free personal advice is available from Citizens Advice and local welfare rights services.
Editor, ADHD Helper
Adam leads ADHD Helper's editorial coverage of adult ADHD, and he writes it from lived experience: Adam has ADHD himself, diagnosed as an adult, and has been through the assessment routes and the daily workarounds this site covers. He is the founder and managing director of Muswell Rose and researches the plain-English explainers on getting an ADHD assessment through NHS Right to Choose or privately, and on the products and tools people use to manage ADHD, drawing on guidance from the NHS, NICE and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is clear that the site is information, not medical advice, and that diagnosis is for a registered clinician.
Last reviewed: 30 July 2026