This guide provides insights into Crohn’s Disease and its potential impact on daily living and mobility. It explains how Crohn’s Disease might affect your ability to carry out everyday activities safely, effectively, accurately, and repeatedly.
Crohn’s Disease is a long-term condition where part of your gut is inflamed. The condition cannot be cured but can be prevented or managed with a range of treatments.
Symptoms can include the following:
Other symptoms may include other parts of your body including skin rashes, joint pain or sore eyes.
Some of these symptoms can be linked to other conditions, such as, Colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Diverticular Disease, Coeliac Disease.
These symptoms can vary and can cause people to have flareups and remissions which vary in intensity and length of time.
A formal diagnosis can take a long time and requires a range of tests e.g. blood tests, stool samples, endoscopy, colonoscopy or gastroscopy, biopsies and a range of scans – MRI, ultrasound and/CT scan.
This can vary over time and depends how Crohn’s Disease affects you. A range of healthcare professionals will be involved in your care as well as a range of medication to help manage your condition. Your condition may mean that you need to have surgery where damaged areas of your bowel are removed and healthy sections are joined together. It may also mean that you have to have the end of your bowel coming through a hole in your tummy in the form of an ileostomy or colostomy.
Crohn’s Disease can cause complications and over time can lead to:
The following sections outline the daily activities assessed in PIP claims and how Crohn’s Disease may affect them. This is not an exhaustive list; ensure all relevant details are included in your application.
Crohn’s Disease can impact how you prepare a simple meal in a variety of ways:
Do you need assistance in the kitchen in terms of someone taking over the food preparation because you need to use the toilet urgently, in some cases on more than one occasion etc?
You may experience the following when eating and drinking:
You skip meals due pain, fatigue, bowel issues, lack of appetite, low mood etc.
This descriptor examines how you manage health-related treatments, and you may find:
What other health professionals are monitoring your condition e.g. GP, Gastroenterologist, specialist bowel nurse, Colorectal surgeons etc.
This looks at the ability of being able to bath or shower and what issues you may experience:
This descriptor is about the ability to use a toilet independently and to be able clean yourself afterwards and have no continence issues:
Do you have a radar key to access disability toilets when not at home?
This looks at whether you can dress and undress yourself and choose appropriate clothing:
This descriptor looks at someone’s ability to verbally communicate and to be able to express and convey information and to be able to receive and understand information:
People with Crohn’s disease do not usually have issues with communication. If you have communication issues, then you need to state what these are.
This relates to the ability to read and understand written or printed information:
People with Crohn’s Disease do not usually have issues with reading, understanding signs, symbols and words. If you have issues with reading, then you need to state what they are.
People with Crohn’s Disease can struggle socially and find it difficult due to:
After mixing with people, you find yourself exhausted and you need to rest.
This descriptor looks at if you can manage their money:
These evaluate how Crohn’s Disease may affect mobility related tasks. This is not an exhaustive list; ensure all relevant details are included in your application.
Crohn’s Disease may make planning and following a journey challenging:
Moving around may be affected due to Crohn’s Disease:
Do you walk more slowly than a person of a similar age who does not have your health condition because of abdominal pain/cramps, joint pain, fatigue, nausea etc.
It is important that when you complete your PIP form, that you include how Crohn’s Disease affects you in relation to each descriptor. Ensure that you give specific examples, under each descriptor, where you have struggled due your Crohn’s Disease, where appropriate. It is important that you include any aids, adaptations or support/supervision that you need to help you complete each activity, where appropriate.
This information only covers Crohn’s Disease. If you have any other health conditions and/or disability you should include how they impact you under the relevant descriptors.
Remember to include copies of any relevant medical evidence, diagnosis letters, care plans etc to support your claim for PIP.
Please remember that this is not a complete list and if you have other symptoms or conditions that affect this descriptor, they need to be included on your PIP claim. More information can be found at www.gov.uk
This Information is correct as of March 2026
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