PIP Activity 1 preparing food: descriptors, points and examples
A calm, practical guide to the PIP preparing food activity (Question 3 on the PIP2 form). Understand what the DWP is looking for, how to describe your difficulties, and see example notes. This is reference-only and not legal, medical, or benefits advice.
What this activity covers
Activity 1 on the PIP assessment is about your ability to prepare and cook a simple one-course meal for one person using fresh ingredients. It is not about complicated cooking or making meals for a family. A “simple meal” means something like a cooked main course from basic ingredients, for example a fry-up, pasta with sauce, or a jacket potato with a filling.
The activity includes things like opening packaging, peeling and chopping ingredients, using a hob or microwave to cook food, judging when food is cooked, and serving it onto a plate. It does not include carrying food to another room or washing up afterwards.
“Cooking” in PIP terms specifically means heating food at or above waist height, such as on a hob or in a microwave. Using a low oven is not included in the definition, so if you can only use a microwave but not a hob, that is relevant.
PIP Activity 1 descriptors and points
The DWP uses a set of descriptors to score your ability. You are matched to the one descriptor that applies to you for more than half of the time. If more than one applies, you get the points for the highest scoring one that is true for the majority of days. The descriptors for preparing food are:
| Descriptor | Points |
|---|---|
| Can prepare and cook a simple meal unaided | 0 |
| Needs to use an aid or appliance to prepare or cook a simple meal | 2 |
| Cannot cook a simple meal using a conventional cooker but can using a microwave | 2 |
| Needs prompting to prepare or cook a simple meal | 2 |
| Needs supervision or assistance to prepare or cook a simple meal | 4 |
| Cannot prepare and cook food at all | 8 |
“Prompting” means being reminded, encouraged, or having things explained by another person. “Assistance” means physical help from another person. “Supervision” means someone watching over you to keep you safe.
Writing your notes for this activity
Examples: describing preparing food difficulties
Below are examples of how you might describe your difficulties with this activity. These are for illustration only and should not be copied into your own form. Always describe your own experience.
“I cannot stand at the cooker for more than a few minutes because of pain in my back and legs. I use a perching stool but even then I can only manage for about ten minutes before I need to stop. I cannot lift pans when they have water in them. My partner chops all the vegetables because I do not have the grip strength to hold a knife safely. If my partner is not home, I eat sandwiches or microwave meals because I cannot prepare a proper meal on my own. Cooking one meal exhausts me to the point where I cannot do anything else for at least an hour.”
“I regularly forget that I have food cooking. I have burned meals several times because I walked away from the hob and got distracted by something else. I have also left the hob on after finishing cooking without realising. My partner now checks the kitchen after I have cooked because of this. I cannot follow a recipe because I lose track of where I am and skip steps. On most days someone needs to remind me to eat because I do not think about food until I feel unwell from not eating.”
“On bad days I cannot motivate myself to prepare food at all. I know I need to eat but I cannot make myself get up and do it. My mum comes round three times a week and makes meals for me, and on the other days I usually eat cereal or nothing. I have gone entire days without eating because I could not face going to the kitchen. When I do try to cook, it takes me much longer than it should because I keep stopping and I struggle to concentrate on what I am doing.”
“I am afraid of using the hob because I worry about burns and fires. I only use the microwave, and even then I check it repeatedly. I cannot use sharp knives because my hands shake when I am anxious, so I buy pre-chopped vegetables or ready meals. If someone else is not in the house, I will not cook at all because the fear of something going wrong is too much. On bad days I do not eat a proper meal because the anxiety around preparing food is overwhelming.”
Using GuidedPIPs
GuidedPIPs walks you through the preparing food activity with guided prompts tailored to your conditions. It helps you describe your difficulties step by step, covering aids, help from others, reliability, and variability, so you do not have to figure out the structure on your own.
You can start for free and decide whether full access is right for you.