Epilepsy is one of the conditions where PIP is most often misunderstood. Between seizures a person can look completely well, so the danger is easy to miss. This worked example shows how each of the 12 activities can be described for someone with frequent, poorly controlled seizures, in the first person and in the plain wording assessors look for.
Epilepsy does not fit the picture many people have of a disability. On a good day, between seizures, someone can walk, talk, cook and go out like anyone else. That is exactly why so many epilepsy claims are underscored. The assessment is not only about what you can do on a calm afternoon. It is about whether you can do everyday tasks safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time, on the days that make up most of your life.
The heart of an epilepsy claim is safety and supervision. Many seizures come with little or no warning. If one strikes at the hob, in the bath, on the stairs or in the street, the person cannot protect themselves, and the result can be a burn, a drowning, a fall or a head injury. That risk of serious harm does not go away on the days between seizures, because the next one could come at any moment. This is why needing someone nearby to keep you safe counts, even when you are not having a seizure at that exact time.
The other half of the picture is what happens after a seizure. Post-seizure confusion and exhaustion can leave a person muddled, disorientated, unable to remember what they were doing and too drained to dress, wash or move around for a day or two. Anti-seizure medication, the one thing holding the seizures back, can add drowsiness and memory problems of its own. When seizures are frequent, these recovery days are not rare bad days. They are a regular part of the week, and the rules say a fluctuating condition is judged on your worst and most common days, not your best ones.
So the thread running through the answers below is reliability: not whether epilepsy stops you every single day, but whether you can do each task safely and to a proper standard on most days, without the risk of harm and without someone there to step in.Not every one of the 12 activities will apply to you, and leaving one alone is the honest answer, because an honest form is a stronger form. The DWP always makes the final decision, but describing your real days accurately gives your claim the strongest chance of being understood.
What to cover for each one. Your paid form writes the full answers for you.
Describe the danger of a seizure striking without warning while you are at the hob or holding a knife, and the burns, scalds or cuts that could follow before anyone could step in. Mention any supervision you need, or aids such as a microwave instead of a cooker. Explain that on the days after a seizure you are too confused or exhausted to prepare a meal safely or to an acceptable standard, so you cannot do it reliably on most days.
Epilepsy does not usually affect cutting food up, getting it to your mouth or swallowing, so only claim this if something genuinely reaches it. What counts is the risk of seizing with food in your mouth and needing somebody nearby while you eat, being too confused after a seizure to feed yourself without prompting, or anti-seizure medication that takes your appetite away or makes you feel too sick to finish a meal. If eating and drinking are fine for you, leave this one alone and put your effort into the activities that are not.
Explain how post-seizure and medication-related memory problems lead you to miss doses or take them twice, and that a missed anti-seizure tablet can bring on more seizures. Mention any prompting, reminders, a dosette box or a family member checking your medication for you. Describe how much help you need to take your treatment correctly and monitor your condition, since managing it wrong carries a real risk of harm rather than being a mild inconvenience.
Describe the risk of collapsing and hitting your head if a seizure comes while you are on or getting to the toilet, and any falls you have actually had. Mention grab rails, needing the door left unlocked, or someone within earshot to keep you safe. Explain that after a seizure the confusion and exhaustion can leave you unable to manage toileting to an acceptable standard on your own, so the difficulty is about safety and reliability, not just the task itself.
Explain that on the days after a seizure you are too drained and muddled to dress yourself properly, sometimes putting clothes on inside out or the wrong way round. Mention any prompting or physical help you need, and how the tiredness and confusion make the task unsafe or impossible to complete to an acceptable standard. Make clear this happens on most weeks, not rarely, so you cannot dress reliably and repeatedly without support.
Between seizures most people with epilepsy talk and understand normally, so be careful not to stretch this one. What counts is losing speech or coming out with muddled words for minutes or hours after a seizure, blanking out mid-sentence in an absence and losing the thread of what was said, or medication leaving you so slow and slurred that people have to repeat themselves. Say how long it lasts and how often it happens, and if your speech and understanding are unaffected, leave this one alone.
This question is about taking in written information, not eyesight on its own. What counts is being unable to read a letter or a form for hours or days after a seizure because nothing goes in, or medication leaving your concentration so poor that somebody has to read important post to you and explain it. Poor concentration that still lets you read and understand the words is not the same thing, so if you can manage letters and forms yourself, leave this one alone.
Describe the overwhelming fear of seizing in front of others and how it leads you to avoid seeing people or leaving the house. Explain the anxiety and any past distressing experiences of seizing in public. Mention whether you need someone with you to face social situations at all, and how far this stops you engaging with people face to face on most days, so the assessor understands the barrier is genuine and regular rather than occasional shyness.
Epilepsy does not usually affect the sums themselves, so only claim this if you genuinely need prompting or help with money decisions. What counts is memory problems from seizures or medication leaving you missing bills, paying the same thing twice or losing track of what has gone out, so that a partner or a relative now checks the accounts and handles the paperwork for you. Money being tight is not what this question is asking about, so if budgeting is genuinely fine for you, leave this one alone.
Be honest that on most days walking itself is not the problem, then describe the recovery days when heavy, aching limbs and exhaustion after a seizure leave you barely able to move any distance. Mention how far you can walk safely on a bad day and whether you need someone with you in case you collapse. Explain that a fluctuating condition is judged on your worst and most common days, so the recovery days matter here.
The tips above are general pointers. Your paid form gives you a full, ready-to-copy answer for all 12 activities, written from your exact conditions, medication, aids and bad days - not a general example. This is a worked example for epilepsy; yours is written for you. £99.99 one-off.
This page is a worked example, not a script. It shows one honest way a person with frequent, poorly controlled epilepsy might describe their days, so you can see the level of detail and the plain wording that assessors are trained to look for. It is here to learn from, not to copy word for word. Your seizures, your warning signs, your medication and the way things actually affect you will be different, and your own answers should reflect your life, because that is what makes an answer ring true.
Notice that not every activity has to be claimed. Ticking "No" where it is true does not weaken your form. It makes the parts where you do struggle far more believable. The strongest epilepsy claims are the ones that are clear about safety and supervision where it matters and honest where it does not.
The easiest way to get there is to tell us about your epilepsy in your own words. We then write your answers from your own condition, in the same first-person style you can see above, ready for you to read, edit and copy onto your PIP2 claim form or your AR1 review form.
Tell us about your epilepsy and we will write one full activity for you, free, before you pay anything.
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