illness benefit refused

greengrass87

hi guys
have recently had surgery on a long standing issue with my wrist.

have just received a letter from social refusing me illness benefit as i have not made the contibutions required in 2011.

i was in full time education throughout this year so fail to see where i could have made contributions.

i was on illness benefit when i broke wrist last summer(happens twice a year)which is why i got surgery to correct it.

however it seems now where into 2013 im no longer entitled to it.

the form on the back says that if i was in full time education during tax year mentioned(2011) then to get relevant documents from college etc..
however it also says only if i began the course before i was 23 which i didnt.

does anybody know why they just dismiss you if you were over 23 in full time education?

cant make sense of it




i was 23 at the time

Sue Ellen

http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Can-I-qualify-for-student-credits.aspx

Above gives details of how to qualify for Student Credits but does not give a reason for the age limit.
A person starting a college course when over 23 is considered to be a mature student, it could be something to do with that.

greengrass87

ya i was thinking about the mature student thing but still dont understand how that would go against me

tanks for the reply

dave98

Hi OP, I was in a similar position as yourself, I got turned down too, was disgusted. I went to my local community welfare officer, he said it is a regular thing to be turned down for illness benifet, think he said 7 out of 10 people are turned down (open to correction)However, there is hope!! He put me on supplementary befifet, I get it once a week, all you have to do is drop in or post a weekly cert...the doctor gives me 4 weeks of certs at a time. I applied for this supplementary benifet on a Tuesday and got my first payment on that Thurs!!Good luck with this and the recovery too!!

greengrass87

dave98 wrote: »

Hi OP, I was in a similar position as yourself, I got turned down too, was disgusted. I went to my local community welfare officer, he said it is a regular thing to be turned down for illness benifet, think he said 7 out of 10 people are turned down (open to correction)However, there is hope!! He put me on supplementary befifet, I get it once a week, all you have to do is drop in or post a weekly cert...the doctor gives me 4 weeks of certs at a time. I applied for this supplementary benifet on a Tuesday and got my first payment on that Thurs!!Good luck with this and the recovery too!!

thanks dave 98

i think ill head over in the morning and suss that out
our local welfare officer is known to be a demon though so im not too hopefull

can i ask you what forms you needed for this payment ie. bnk statement,bills etc..?

dave98

Ya we have 2, I got the demon too lol. When I went in, she asked for my PPS no, then gave me a form to fill out.Was 4 pages I think, I brought in the letter saying refused illness benifet (by bringing this letter I got her to back date the payment!!), a copy of rent lease if you have one, a letter from employer to say not getting paid and I think thats all I needed, was pretty straight forward really

greengrass87

cheers dave

your after giving me some bit of hope anyway
got very worried this morning receiving that letter

i will call to her tomorrow morning

thanks for the advice

a problem shared is really a problem halved

dave98

Ya deffo. Let me know how you get on. Best of luck

greengrass87

update:
saw CWO this morning
just wanted same documents that you said dave so relatively straight forward

unfortunately though ill only be entitled to 122 as i live with my partner and child who is on maternity benefit

this country is just crazy if you ask me because if i was living at home with parents id get the 188?

go figure

missed out on illness benefit by 7 days

great start to 2013

maryk123

How is it crazy you got what you were entitled to and will probably get paid this week. You are in a relationship with a child and you get the same as everyone else. They don't even have to pay you because your illness benefit has been refused which means you don't qualify. So in the great bigger picture I think you did well

greengrass87

crazy because if i was single at home(not paying rent) id be entitled to more
i dont see the sense in that?? do you?

thats the system obviously,i can see that

dont need you to be stating the obvious to me thanks very much

dave98

greengrass87 wrote: »

crazy because if i was single at home(not paying rent) id be entitled to more
i dont see the sense in that?? do you?

thats the system obviously,i can see that

dont need you to be stating the obvious to me thanks very much

That's good at least you got something. That's crazy the way you got deducted though. I would appeal the illness benefit claim aswell. I was out by 13 weeks because I left Ireland for a few months. I still didn't get it but she said if it was only 2-3 weeks I would have