An upper tribunal judge has held that over-eating can be grounds for scoring PIP points, if the problem is linked to a physical or mental health condition. Benefits and Work has been advising readers to claim points for this issue since PIP was introduced, but we will now be updating our PIP guide to include brief details and a link to the decision.
The case was brought by a former soldier who has anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress.
In his evidence he explained that due to an incident while on active service abroad, he was unable to eat for two days. He now has difficulty in knowing when to stop eating. When he left the army, he was 15 stone and now he is 22 stone.
He relies on his wife to control his diet and eating habits. His wife monitors his food intake, making him packed lunches to ensure he is not overindulging whilst at work, and preventing him from taking cash so that he cannot buy ‘junk’ food.
The judge held that, depending on the circumstances, it might be correct to award 4 points for descriptor 2) d. ‘Needs prompting to be able to take nutrition’.
Although the claimant was able to take nutrition, because he took too much it might be the case that he did not take nutrition as often as reasonably required. Instead, he took it too frequently.
Alternatively, it might be found that he could not carry out the activity of taking nutrition to an acceptable standard if it was being performed repeatedly and to excess and in a chaotic way, though the judge considered this would be a harder case to make.
In some instances it might be that the activity cannot be carried out safely if food is eaten so quickly or compulsively that choking or serious vomiting risks arise, although that was not a factor in this case.
The judge sent the case back to a first-tier tribunal to be reconsidered.
It is worth noting that the success rate for claims where the primary condition is obesity is 78%, well above the average of 52%.
