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Supporting evidence to include in your Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim

To increase your chances of a successful Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claim, it’s important to send in evidence that backs up what you’ve said in the How your disability affects you (PIP2) form.

This could be supporting statements from people who know you (family and friends), copies of reports or assessments, or a personal statement or diary detailing a typical day or week.

Make sure you read all the supporting evidence carefully to make sure it isn’t out of date or contradicts what you’ve put in the form. Supporting evidence also needs to focus on the activities asked about in the PIP2 form.

Personal statement

You can write a personal statement in support of your claim, including any difficulties you have in your day-to-day life with the PIP activities.

Examples may include:

  • when it’s noisy and you can’t hear speech clearly
  • difficulties with group conversations when people speak all at once
  • when people talk too fast or use unfamiliar words
  • not seeing people’s lips clearly because they turn away, cover their mouth, or have a beard or veil that hides their lips
  • difficulty following the lip patterns of people who are unfamiliar to you or have accents
  • having to take someone for support at appointments so that you understand all the information
  • problems using public transport, such as regularly missing trains because you can't hear announcements at the train station
  • not being able to hear a normal fire alarm when you're in the shower or bath and have taken your hearing technology off.

Here is a template you could use to write your personal statement.

Supporting evidence from professionals

You can ask lots of different people to write supporting letters to support your claim. This can include:

  • audiologist
  • speech and language therapist
  • ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist
  • GP
  • teacher
  • Teacher of the Deaf (ToD)
  • social worker
  • employer
  • close family member or friend.

Make sure everything they say is related to the PIP activities and descriptors, otherwise it won’t be relevant. Giving them information about PIP activities and the descriptors will help them to focus on the things most relevant to your PIP claim.

Template letters

Template letters for a deaf young person to use when requesting supporting evidence from a professional for their PIP claim.

Template letters for an appointee to use when helping a deaf young person request supporting evidence from a professional for their PIP claim.

Other professionals

You may see other professionals because of a disability or health condition in addition to your deafness. Because you only fill in one PIP form for all your disabilities or conditions, ask these professionals to provide their own supporting evidence.

This should explain how your disabilities or health conditions affect you throughout the day in relation to the PIP activities and descriptors. They could also include the impact your deafness has on your ability to manage this additional need or the impact your additional need has on your ability to manage your deafness.

Reports, assessments and support plans

If you have a statement of special educational needs (England and Northern Ireland) or an Education, Health and Care plan (England) or a coordinated support plan (Scotland) or an Individual Development Plan (Wales) it could help your claim if you send in a copy.

Other reports and assessments from professionals, such as a speech and language therapist or an educational psychologist, could also be sent in if they are relevant to your PIP claim and descriptors.