Illness benifit and disability allowence

dialer · 06-10-2011 12:23am #1

Hi all,

After an accident at work last year i am left with a disability of 40% as described by the social welfare medical exam.
With winter almost upon us i've tried for the Household benefits package, Fuel allowance, only to be told that i'm on the wrong benefit.
Essentially I would almost be better to move to job seekers as this would entitle me to additional benefits that at the moment i could dearly afford.
Received medical card recently as a plus almost year later.

Wondering if any one has any advice on what or how to's

Oddjob · 06-10-2011 12:27am

Applying for Job seekers benefit would entail you actually looking for work, if you have any plans to do that, then I would apply if I was you.

cee_jay · 06-10-2011 12:39am

What benefit are you in receipt of currently?
It would be very rare to have better benefits while in receipt of a Jobseeker's payment - for example, household benefits is not available on jobseekers, and fuel is only available when you are long term unemployed.

paddy147 · 06-10-2011 9:33pm

dialer wrote: »

Hi all,

After an accident at work last year i am left with a disability of 40% as described by the social welfare medical exam.
With winter almost upon us i've tried for the Household benefits package, Fuel allowance, only to be told that i'm on the wrong benefit.
Essentially I would almost be better to move to job seekers as this would entitle me to additional benefits that at the moment i could dearly afford.
Received medical card recently as a plus almost year later.

Wondering if any one has any advice on what or how to's

You should be really on invalidity benifit,which is 193 euro a week.

Your medical exam which gave you a judgement of 40% is a dissablement pension then,based on a dissablement of 40%.

That would be an extra weekly amount of 87 euro.

You are also fully entitled to apply for and clam the household benifits package,which is credits towards gas or leccy,credits towards landline or mobile phone bill and a free TV licence

If you are living alone,then you are also entitled to the living alone allowance of 7 euro a week too.

PeadarB · 06-10-2011 10:55pm

The wife is on Illness Benefit at present, and has been since coming off Injury Benefit in July 2010. She suffered a broken arm with serious complications on the way to work and is currently awaiting a decision re % disability to be provisionally awarded. It's been a long wait and still no sign of a decision.

dialer · 07-10-2011 1:45am

Thanks for replys folks,
Would it be a fight to change to invalidity benefit, as any package i apply for appears to be an uphill struggle for me regarding any welfare benefits. First time ever out of work and a real eye-opener to what your not entitled to.
Have to sympathize with PeadarB
Thanks Paddy147 for the well needed advice, unfortunately no one to date recommended this to me...Thank you all very much

mp22 · 07-10-2011 9:26am

dialer wrote: »

Thanks for replys folks,
Would it be a fight to change to invalidity benefit, as any package i apply for appears to be an uphill struggle for me regarding any welfare benefits. First time ever out of work and a real eye-opener to what your not entitled to.
Have to sympathize with PeadarB
Thanks Paddy147 for the well needed advice, unfortunately no one to date recommended this to me...Thank you all very much

This is perhaps what Paddy147 is suggesting http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/disability_and_illness/invalidity_pension.html

If you apply for the pension you will remain on your present payment until a decision has been made about your claim.

PeadarB · 07-10-2011 11:15am

Thanks dialer. Wife had her first medical assessment relating to her disabilement benefit claim almost 18 months after the accident. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to receive a disablement benefit. Thanks folks.

dialer · 07-10-2011 2:08pm

Sounds like that is taking much too long. It will be backdated although i would follow it up. Any medical i attended, i received written confirmation of attendance with a result detailing the findings of the medical officer in percentage loss within 6 weeks ; Soon followed by any outstanding payment and any revised rate.
Hope this helps PeadarB

Occupational Injuries Benefit Section
Department of Social Protection
Áras Mhic Dhiarmada
Store Street
Dublin 1
Ireland
Tel: (01) 704 3018

dialer · 07-10-2011 2:17pm

Dug this out for you.
Perhaps PeadarB you could try here, they are reasonable enough

Disablement Section
Ballinalee Road
Longford
043 3334733

PeadarB · 07-10-2011 4:11pm

dialer many thanks for that. Must get herself to gee them up a bit.

Our man in Havana · 08-10-2011 1:31pm

Contact you local TD and he will sort it out.

paddy147 · 08-10-2011 2:35pm

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Contact you local TD and he will sort it out.

Yeah,Im really sure he or she will.:rolleyes:

The TDs run up massive dail bar drinks bills and the banks get away with murder while the TDs just tell packs of lies and continue to take away from the genuine people of this country who are struggling to make ends meet.

Thats really fair,isnt it?

paddy147 · 08-10-2011 2:41pm

dialer wrote: »

Hi all,

After an accident at work last year i am left with a disability of 40% as described by the social welfare medical exam.
With winter almost upon us i've tried for the Household benefits package, Fuel allowance, only to be told that i'm on the wrong benefit.
Essentially I would almost be better to move to job seekers as this would entitle me to additional benefits that at the moment i could dearly afford.
Received medical card recently as a plus almost year later.

Wondering if any one has any advice on what or how to's

You would also be better off to go to the Citizins Information and ask them for advice too.

In alot of cases they know more about the SW system,than the SW people do know themselves.

My sister was told 3 different storys recently,by 3 seperate SW people,with regards what she could claim for with her own illness.

She want to the CI and they told her in more or less 2 minutes "EXACTLY" what she could legally claim for,and it worked out more than what SW had told her.

Even the FAS careers and guidence chap knew more than the SW department/office did.

SW should be training their employees properly and making sure that they are giving people the correct information too,especially when a person takes the time to call the specific SW office/department and ask simple yet specific questions.

stacexD · 09-10-2011 1:08am

Illness benefit is an awful hassle, my mother has been on it for about 4 years now and it's caused nothing but trouble since my dad lost his job. The CWO told him the other day that basically illness benefit is classed as earnings not a social welfare payment as it's only meant to be short term, so anything you apply for your illness benefit money is going against you. Terrible system really! Get off it as fast as you can I'd say

Kristopherus · 09-10-2011 1:22am

For Illness benefit, you must have paid PRSI contributions. To get from that to Invalidity Pension entails having another Medical Exam, wherein the Assessor will have to certify that , in their opinion, you are not fit to work again. Usually a person who is in receipt of Invalidity Pension, they will qualify for all ,or at least some, of the Household Benefits. These ancillary benefits are now a target for the knife in the upcoming Budget. Those nice TDs that Paddy147 refers to would have you believe that there will be "reforms" of the schemes:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

paddy147 · 09-10-2011 12:39pm

Invalidity Pension (193.50 per week) is not means tested or taken into account when applying for any other payments,so if you can,the get onto it asap.

nearlytherenow · 09-10-2011 11:11pm

Hi Lads, is it just me or is it really very confusing?? I had a bad accident at work and went for my medical and I appealed the first decision they came to regarding my % and its a good thing I did too as I have just found out I will probably need surgery on my back in the near future. However, it took approx 12 months for my appeal to be heard, and then I got a "preliminary" payment, they found me to be 20%.. then I was called again a bout five weeks ago and he basically said that my case is till ongoing and my condition has not changed, so when will I start getting paid from them> this is going on since 2008 when I had my accident.. Its really annoying..

PeadarB · 10-10-2011 5:54pm

nearlytherenow wrote: »

Hi Lads, is it just me or is it really very confusing?? I had a bad accident at work and went for my medical and I appealed the first decision they came to regarding my % and its a good thing I did too as I have just found out I will probably need surgery on my back in the near future. However, it took approx 12 months for my appeal to be heard, and then I got a "preliminary" payment, they found me to be 20%.. then I was called again a bout five weeks ago and he basically said that my case is till ongoing and my condition has not changed, so when will I start getting paid from them> this is going on since 2008 when I had my accident.. Its really annoying..

And I thought my missus was bad. It strikes me that there is something basically unfair in the system.
My wife had worked for almost 40 years before her accident and never drew any SW reliefs other than injury and illness benefit since that accident. She has lost eighteen months from her work and will find it very difficult getting back into the groove again after so long an absence.
All the more strange when this disablement compensation has been well funded by her employers and hundreds of thousands of other employers since the scheme started. Her having to wait from the middle of last year is not so bad compared to the previous poster, but to have to wait for a year for an appeal in this situation is totally unacceptable. It seems that this scheme is designed to frustrate rather than compensate.

dialer · 10-10-2011 6:04pm

Like Paddy147's wife i had a complicated fracture and almost two and half years on i'm still under orthapedic care in the fact that i'm what i hope will be a final surgery. Any savings from when i was working are long gone and so too is my private health care to meet regular bills and so on.
Ilness benefit is certainly a short term benefit although surgens knew from the onset that this was going to be a tough and prolonged recovery.
Unfortunately Social Welfare works on what seems to be a timed payment as soon as you meet their criteria, in 'lenght of time' = certain benefits.

PeadarB · 21-10-2011 6:59pm

Hi Dialer, Missus finally got that awarded, provisionally. I wonder how many get the same % rate - 20%, and provisionally. A real award for a accident at work. I wonder how much the award would have been had she been examined say six months after her accident. She is considering an appeal but as she would be pension age by the time it would be heard what's the point.

paddy147 · 21-10-2011 8:21pm

PeadarB wrote: »

Hi Dialer, Missus finally got that awarded, provisionally. I wonder how many get the same % rate - 20%, and provisionally. A real award for a accident at work. I wonder how much the award would have been had she been examined say six months after her accident. She is considering an appeal but as she would be pension age by the time it would be heard what's the point.

Her appeal,if successfull,would be backdated to the appeal date.

So any increase would also mean it being backdated too.

It might verry well be worth her time to do this.

dialer · 04-11-2011 12:15am

I would agree with paddy147, that u (PeadarB) should strongly consider reviewing your stance.

Recently, I was advised to approach the local TD for guidance and assistance following your advice on this Board regarding moving to Invalidity Pension. Yet to my amazement this is a daily routine for the secretary to the TD, to follow up, track and discuss your case as a mediator with the Social Welfare.
I was left flabbergasted.

To realize almost as long as it has been that we in PAYE just haven't a clue as how things work to our advantage, and what assistance is available. Unfortunately, usually a little too late.

Hope this helps PeadarB

PeadarB · 04-11-2011 1:10am

Hi dialer and paddy, wife has decided to accept the offer despite my protestations that she should appeal. We won't fall out over it though.
It did surprise me that the number and frequency of her medical exams for the various benefits, injury, then illness and now provisional disablement payment seemed only to exacerbate and compound her frustration, as it was hard to diffrentiate the reasoning of one from the other, they were demoralising and seen by us as only a sop to delay payment in the hope of recovery and minimise the cost to the fund.
Her attempts at rehabilitative work after such a long break have failed, and at her age, has only caused an earlier injury to flare up, so she is back to square one once again.
Only consolation for me is that she will now go into that enforced retirement she fought so hard against over the past two years. Thanks for all the advice - it has been most supportive and helpful. I sincerely hope that your outcomes are more successful.

Illness benifit and disability allowence

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