- No. Personal Independence Payment is not means-tested. Your savings, an inheritance, your partner's income and your own earnings do not affect whether you get PIP or how much.1
- In 2026/27 PIP pays £76.70 or £114.60 a week for daily living and £30.30 or £80.00 a week for mobility, whatever your income.2
- You can work full time and still get PIP. PIP is also not taxable and does not count as income for Universal Credit.
- What money can affect is your other benefits. An inheritance or savings above £6,000 reduce Universal Credit, and £16,000 or more usually ends it.
Why PIP ignores income and savings
PIP exists to help with the extra costs of a long-term health condition or disability. It is awarded on how your condition affects everyday activities and getting around, scored against set descriptors, not on what you earn or own. Someone with £200,000 in the bank and someone with nothing are assessed in exactly the same way.
That is also why there is no capital limit, no tariff income and no deprivation-of-capital rule for PIP. Spending, gifting or saving money has no bearing on a PIP award.
If you inherit money while you are on PIP
Your PIP carries on unchanged. You do not need to tell the PIP team about an inheritance, a lump sum, a pay rise or a new partner's income, because none of them change the award.
You do need to think about any means-tested benefits you receive alongside PIP. Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction all look at capital. For Universal Credit, savings under £6,000 are ignored, every £250 (or part of £250) between £6,000 and £16,000 counts as £4.35 a month of income, and at £16,000 or more you usually cannot get UC at all. Report the inheritance to those benefits as soon as you receive it.
Pension Credit is more generous: the first £10,000 is ignored and there is no upper limit. Our inheritance and savings guides walk through the numbers for each benefit.
Working while you get PIP
Starting work, increasing your hours or earning more does not reduce PIP. Many people with enhanced-rate awards work full time.
The one thing to bear in mind is that a new job can be evidence about how your condition affects you. If your daily abilities have genuinely changed, that is a change to report. If you are doing a job with adjustments, support or at a real cost to your health, the job itself does not mean your needs have gone. Keep a note of the help you rely on at work.
What you do need to report to PIP
Report changes that affect how your condition affects you, for example if your needs increase or reduce, or a new condition develops. If things get worse, reporting it can lead to a higher award.
Also report: going into hospital or a care home (adult PIP usually stops after 28 days as an NHS in-patient, and the daily living part can stop after 28 days in a care home paid for by the council), going abroad for more than four weeks, going into prison, and changes to your name, address or bank details.
None of these are money changes. If the only thing that has changed is your income or savings, you have nothing to report to PIP.
How PIP can add to your other benefits
Because PIP is ignored as income, it sits on top of Universal Credit rather than reducing it. It can also unlock more: households getting PIP are exempt from the benefit cap, the daily living component can let a carer claim Carer's Allowance (£86.45 a week in 2026/27), and the enhanced mobility rate gives access to the Motability Scheme.
So while money does not affect PIP, PIP can affect your money elsewhere for the better. It is worth checking your Universal Credit or Pension Credit entitlement again after a PIP award.