advice required....please

coolegrain

if someone could explain this to me like i am a six year old please.

i have worked for a company since 12th jan 2012 (previously unempolyed).
on the 14th sept i injured my back lifting and the doctor signed me off work for 2 months.
my employers said they could not keep the position open for that length of time and ended my employment on 12th oct.
today i recieved written confirmation from them (employers)

since 14th sept i have been handing in illness benefit forms to social welfare each week, although after two weeks they told me i could not recieve anything due to not having enough PRSI contributions.

today i rang and explained this to the social welfare who insist that while the doctor says i have this injury i am entitled to no income from them in any way.

i asked what wold happen to someone on jobseekers allowance / benefit if they hurt themselves in their garden one day, they said while they are injured we would stop all payments to them.

they advised that my only path to any further advice would be to arrange to talk to my community welfare officer.

i have had no income since 14th sept....and cannot make a claim until doctor clears this injury....and i have lost my job to no real fault of my own i dont think.

my wife works full time for the hse and we have 4 children.

is there any advice that i should know about ??

thanks to anyone who replies.

Equality

The first critical point is where you were when you injured your back.

If you were at work, and indicated this on the first medical cert you supplied when you put in for illness benefit, then once the accident at work is confirmed, you get occupational injury benefit for six months from the date of the accident, assuming you are sick for the six months and that you send in the certs. This is 188 per week. OIB does not require you to have a lot of PRSI paid - it is sufficient if you were a paid employee on the day of the accident (one day of paid prsi).

Occupational injury benefit is based on your having had an accident at work. So for example if you reported the accident to the employer, left work early and went to the doc/hospital and they recorded you as having siad it was an accident at work then even if the employer refused to confirm the accident, you would probably qualify for OIB.

The second point is that you should continue to send in sick certs, as they gain credits which help you towards social welfare payments later on. This is very important.

The third point is that you may re-qualify for illness benefit in January 2013, if you are still sick at that stage, but it depends on whether or not you had prsi or credits in 2011. This is because illness benefit looks at the prsi paid two years ago. This is 2012, so it looks at 2010, when you were not working. (I'm not sure why you were not signing on for unemployment credits at that stage, if you have been you would probably qualify for illness benefit now.) When we enter 2013, they look back two years, at 2011. Were you working or signing for credits in 2011?

If your salary has stopped your wife can take your tax credits and can apply for FIS.

You could apply for Disability Allowance, but it is means tested against your wife's income.

You can also apply, preferably after (7/1/13) the first week of January 2013 for an invalidity pension. This is not means tested, should be ok with prsi, assuming you send in the illness benefit certs to get credits and assuming you have worked for a number of years when younger. The problem here is that the medical requirements are stringent. You might as well apply anyway, but wait until 2013.

If the accident was at work, send all related medical bills to the medical care section of social welfare.

mrsbyrne

Your not entitled to illness benefit because you musnt have sufficent PRSI contributions in the relevant tax year (2010).
If you were on JSB/JSA and you hurt your back/got the flu/broke your arm and you submitted a cert to your local DSP office, your payment would stop, because in order to qualify for Jobseekers you must be "fit" for work, and if you have hurt your back/got the flu/broke your arm you are not fit for work.
So you would be entitled to visit the CWO and apply for SWA until you are "fit" for work again, at which stage a final cert would be submitted and you would return to your previous payment.
You can certainly visit your CWO but as your wife has a job, her income will be taken into account in the means test, so worth a try but realistically....:(
if the back injury occurred at work or on an unbroken journey to or from work, apply immediately for Injury Benefit. Your GP has the forms, score out Illness Benefit at the top where it says Illness benefit/Injury Benefit.