Brain injury chronic fatigue PIP appeal got 18 points - now back to 0 again - erh!

leejenson,

There's nothing specific about sleeping in either PIP or ESA legislation or case law (I"m not sure which benefit it is which you've been refused this time).

For PIP, if you have to sleep a lot in order to do things 'reliably' (safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time period), then I think there are lots of activities where a decision maker should conclude you couldn't do them, or couldn't do them without supervision (because, without the sleep, it wouldn't be safe). If you don't get sufficient sleep on more than 50% of days, then the relevant descriptor would apply, giving you the points if the activity can't be done safely (more points if it can't be done safely even with supervision).

For ESA, I think the most relevant bit of the law would be risk. Both work, and work-related activity, can be a risk to health. If you have to sleep for 12 hours plus 5 in the day in order to function cognitively etc, then almost any job or work-related activity is a risk, because it will prevent you from having enough sleep, and then you are likely to make errors which put you and others at risk.

So yes your need to sleep is relevant, but in an indirect way. If you let us know which benefit you're challenging (ESA or PIP), then we can be more specific about the regulations where these principles are found (for ESA, it would also be relevant to know whether it was 'new style' contributory ESA).

Finally, there are a couple of websites (www.pipinfo.net and www.wcainfo.net), where you can click on cases identified by condition - fatigue is one of these, so you can check if the cases are similar to your situation and might be helpful. 

Will