Brits who suffer from a common weight-related condition may be able to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if it's having a marked impact on their daily life and mobility, the latest official figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) suggest.
Overweight and obesity are "when you have more body fat than your body needs", the NHS website explains. The health service explains that living with overweight and obesity "increases your risk of developing many other serious health conditions", including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, some cancers such as breast cancer, womb cancer and bowel cancer, osteoarthritis, and fatty liver disease.
Meanwhile, living with obesity is "likely to lower your life expectancy by between 2 and 10 years", and can "cause day-to-day problems", including breathlessness, difficulty moving around, feeling very tired (fatigue), joint and back pain, snoring, and mental health problems such as feeling very low (depression).
How PIP works for obesity
In the case of obesity, you may be able to get Government support through PIP if it's deemed to be affecting your mobility and daily life. PIP is a benefit that can help with extra living costs if you have both a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability, and difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition, the GOV.UK website explains.
There are two parts you can apply for: daily living and mobility. The former is based on whether you're able to do a range of household tasks like washing and cooking, and the latter is based on your mobility and travel requirements. It's available to people 16 and over and under State Pension age. You'll continue getting it beyond that point if you have an approved claim, but you generally can't make a new claim after reaching State Pension age.
Rates and eligibility
For the daily living part, the lower rate is £76.70 per week, while the enhanced rate is £114.60 per week. For the mobility part, the lower rate is £30.30 per week, and the enhanced rate is £80. That would mean you'd get £194.60 per week in total if you meet the eligibility for the higher rate in both England and Wales.
That comes to £10,119.20 per year if you got the enhanced rate for both at 2026/27 rates. However, overall rates are reviewed and often uprated annually, so it may well be more over 12 months if you were granted both enhanced rates now.
Northern Ireland has PIP, and though it's a devolved matter, the rules largely run in parallel with those in the rest of the UK. PIP has been replaced with the Adult Disability Payment (ADP) in Scotland, though it also has most of the same eligibility criteria.
Claims and assessment
You can be approved for PIP due to the impact of a wide range of conditions, including obesity. There were 1,307 cases where obesity was listed as the primary disabling condition for people with PIP entitlement that unlocked both the daily living component and the mobility component at the enhanced rate as of July 31, 2026.
However, it's important to note that a diagnosis does not automatically unlock the support, and a successful claim will depend on it being established that the effect on your daily life and mobility makes you eligible for it. This assessment is made by the DWP, informed by independent medical advice. You therefore should not be put off from making a claim if you haven't heard of someone getting support stemming from a condition you have before.
