PIP form question 4: eating and drinking

This question is split into three parts and asks if your condition makes it hard for you to eat or drink. This includes putting food and drink in your mouth, chewing and swallowing.

It also considers your ability to cut food up, if you use a feeding tube, and whether you eat enough food, or too much. Find out how to answer this question.

This two-part question is about how your condition makes it harder for you to cook or prepare a simple meal for one person. It covers how your condition affects your ability to carry out straightforward tasks needed to be able to cook and what support you need. In this guide, we run through how to answer the question and give some basic examples to help you.

How to answer PIP question 4a and 4b

Question 4a and 4b are tick box answers.

4a asks if your condition affects you when eating or drinking.

If you have any problems or need to use aids like specially adapted cutlery or weighted cups, tick ‘yes’.

4b asks if you use something like a feeding tube or pump when eating or drinking. If you use anything to bypass your mouth and throat to deliver nutrients directly to your stomach (enteral) or via your bloodstream (parenteral), check ‘yes’.

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How to answer PIP question 4c

In this part you need to describe the difficulties you experience when eating or drinking and say if you need help. You’re more likely to get PIP if someone helps you, so it’s important to answer this question in as much detail as possible. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will use your answer to decide if you get PIP.

Use this section to let DWP know if you:

use aids
get help from another person
eat too much or too little
have good and bad days

I use aids to help me eat and drink

If you use any aids, list each one and explain why you need it and how it helps.

For example, you might use a weighted cup to stop you spilling drinks or bowls instead of plates to stop you spilling food.

Mention if you’ve been advised by a healthcare professional to use certain aids and list any aids your condition stops you using.

Someone helps me eat and drink

If someone supports you with eating or drinking, explain what they do, why they need to do it and what would happen without their help.

They might cut up your food, put it in your mouth or help you manage your feeding tube.

Support can also include someone being around or watching you for your own safety. For example, if you find it hard to chew and swallow food, you might be at risk of choking so you might need someone around to keep an eye on you.

If you’ve experienced an incident with eating or drinking that put your safety at risk, explain what happened.

You should mention how often any problems occur, how badly you could be hurt and if you can do anything to stop these incidents from happening.

I don’t eat enough/I eat too much

If you have an eating disorder or your medication makes you feel ill after eating, you may need someone to remind or encourage you to eat.

If you skip meals, try to explain how often this happens and why.

For example, you might only eat in the evening if your partner is there to either make food or help you prepare it because you’re recovering from an eating disorder.

On the other hand, you might overeat and need someone to tell you when to stop so you don’t choke or you’re not sick. Explain why you find it hard to stop eating and how often this happens.

Be specific about who helps you and what they do.

I only need help on some days

It’s important to explain what each day looks like for you, as good and bad days can be different for people who have the same condition or symptoms.

If your condition fluctuates, say how often you have bad days and if there are more bad days than good days. If you don’t always need help, explain this.

If it’s hard to be precise about how many bad days you have, that’s okay. You can estimate and explain why you were unable to be entirely accurate. For example, you may say my condition symptoms fluctuate but they tend to be bad on average about five days a week and I need help on those days. On the other days, I can manage without help.

DWP will decide whether to award you PIP based on how your condition affects you most of the time.

Example answer

I am trying to recover from an eating disorder and I struggle to eat enough food. I rely on my family to encourage me to eat because it causes me severe distress and anxiety.

On a good day, I might be able to eat two child-sized meals without any help, but I will eat as little as possible on bad days. I usually have more bad days than good ones. I probably only have around five good days each month. On bad days, I will skip as many meals as possible and I won’t prepare food for myself. Sometimes I won’t eat for days.

My mum and dad help me by making my meals and encourage me to eat more than I would on my own. They also help cut my food into small pieces so it feels more manageable and stay with me until I’ve eaten enough.

If my parents didn’t help, I might be hospitalised and fed via a tube.

If you need help filling in the rest of your PIP form, continue to our guide on question 5.