PIP Activity 7: Communicating verbally (hearing, speech and support points)

Under Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations, Activity 7 (Communicating verbally) tests two sides of spoken communication:

• Expressing verbal information: Physically forming clear, intelligible spoken words and sentences (affected by stroke / aphasia, dysarthria, Parkinson's speech volume, laryngectomy, severe stammer, cerebral palsy, or neurological conditions).
• Understanding verbal information: Hearing and processing spoken words (affected by deafness, bilateral or unilateral hearing loss with background noise distortion, tinnitus, auditory processing disorder, brain injury, or dementia).

Activity 7 vs Activity 9: Put anxiety in the right place

• If you have normal physical hearing and speech mechanics, and your barrier is social anxiety, panic attacks, selective mutism from anxiety, or autistic social distress around strangers, the DWP assesses that under Activity 9 (Engaging with other people face to face) rather than Activity 7.
• If you have both a hearing/speech/language processing condition (Activity 7) and social distress (Activity 9), explain each barrier under its matching activity.

Here are all five statutory descriptors for Activity 7 under Schedule 1 of the PIP Regulations:

Descriptor 7b: Aids or appliances to speak or hear (2 points)

• Applies if you wear hearing aids (NHS or private), a cochlear implant, a bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA), an electrolarynx / voice amplifier, or use an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) speech tablet / text-to-voice app on more than 50% of days.

Descriptors 7c (4 points) and 7d (8 points): Communication support

• In Schedule 1, communication support means support from a person trained or experienced in communicating with people with specific communication needs (for example, a British Sign Language interpreter, a lipspeaker, or a family member / carer experienced in lipreading support, repeating and simplifying speech when hearing aids distort sound, or interpreting dysarthric / aphasic speech).
• Descriptor 7c (4 points): You can follow a short, simple spoken sentence face to face, yet need communication support to express or understand multi-sentence or complex spoken information.
• Descriptor 7d (8 points): Even for a single simple spoken sentence, you need communication support (8 points qualifies for the Standard Daily Living rate of £76.70/week in 2026/27 on its own).

Descriptor 7e: Cannot express or understand verbal information at all (12 points)

• Profound bilateral deafness without functional BSL/lipreading access, or severe neurological/cognitive impairment (such as global aphasia or advanced dementia) prevents expressing or understanding even basic verbal information with support (12 points qualifies for the Enhanced Daily Living rate of £114.60/week on its own).

A common error in PA4 reports is awarding only 2 points (7b) to someone with severe hearing loss because "Claimant wore bilateral hearing aids and heard questions during the consultation".

Under Regulation 4(2A) and Upper Tribunal case law, verbal communication must work to an acceptable standard in normal everyday indoor environments, not only in a completely silent room one-to-one:

1. Background noise distortion: Hearing aids amplify background sounds (shop tills, clinic waiting rooms, television, traffic, multiple voices) alongside speech. If you still miss multi-sentence spoken information even while wearing your hearing aids unless a family member faces you clearly for lipreading and repeats sentences slowly, explain why Descriptor 7c (4 points) applies.
2. Lipreading is not an 'unaided' cure: If you cannot follow spoken sentences on the telephone or when someone turns their head, wears a mask, or stands in poor light, state how heavily you depend on lipreading and communication support.
3. Speech fatigue and reasonable time: If Parkinson's hypophonia, post-stroke aphasia, or severe vocal cord weakness means your speech fades to a whisper after a few minutes or takes more than twice as long to find and pronounce words, point to Regulation 4(2A) repeatability and reasonable time.

Here are two clear examples linking clinical evidence with Regulation 4(2A):

• Bilateral hearing aids & complex speech support (Descriptor 7c - 4 points): "I have moderate-to-severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus (audiology clinic audiogram attached) and wear NHS digital hearing aids every day. While I can catch a single short sentence in a quiet room face to face, my hearing aids amplify background hum in GP waiting rooms, pharmacies, or family rooms so spoken words blur together. For any multi-sentence conversation, my partner must come with me to face me directly so I can lipread and rephrase complex spoken instructions into short chunks. Under Regulation 4(2A), I cannot understand complex verbal information to an acceptable standard without this experienced communication support."
• Post-stroke expressive aphasia (Descriptor 7d - 8 points): "Following a left-hemisphere stroke, expressive and receptive aphasia means I struggle to understand spoken sentences at normal speed and cannot find or pronounce basic words when speaking. Even for simple everyday requests at home or with clinicians, my carer (who knows my speech patterns and gesture cues) must interpret what is being asked and help express my answers safely and within a reasonable time."