Encephalitis

cmssjone

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can help me. My father-in-law has been discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of some strain of encephalitis. He is unable to work due to this condition and, whilst he is making progress, he may never work again. He is close to retirement age and has been self employed over the course of his working life. A couple of questions for you guys...

Is he entitled to some sort of disability benefit whilst he recovers from his illness?

Is he eligible for the state pension when he reaches the required age as he has been self employed all his life?

Thanks for any information.

MouseTail

cmssjone wrote: »

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone can help me. My father-in-law has been discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of some strain of encephalitis. He is unable to work due to this condition and, whilst he is making progress, he may never work again. He is close to retirement age and has been self employed over the course of his working life. A couple of questions for you guys...

Is he entitled to some sort of disability benefit whilst he recovers from his illness?

Is he eligible for the state pension when he reaches the required age as he has been self employed all his life?

Thanks for any information.

Presuming he has been paying Class S contributions, he will be entitled to the contributory State Pension. He should check with DSP he has enough contributions.

I dont think he will qualify for Disability Benefit, but he may for Disability Allowance which is means tested. He really should speak to Citizens Information.

Gael23

If he is unable to work he should get Illness Benefit based on PRSI Contributions. But that only lasts for 2 years so if he hasn't reached pension age by then he will have to go on a means tested payment.

cmssjone

MouseTail wrote: »

Presuming he has been paying Class S contributions, he will be entitled to the contributory State Pension. He should check with DSP he has enough contributions.

I dont think he will qualify for Disability Benefit, but he may for Disability Allowance which is means tested. He really should speak to Citizens Information.

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what contributions he has made; I'll ask him. I never thought about the Citizens info route. I'll get onto them tomorrow.

cmssjone

ryanf1 wrote: »

If he is unable to work he should get Illness Benefit based on PRSI Contributions. But that only lasts for 2 years so if he hasn't reached pension age by then he will have to go on a means tested payment.

Thanks for the reply. He's more than 2 years away from being a pensioner but it looks like this is going to depend if he has made the necessary PRSI payments.

mrsbyrne

ryanf1 wrote: »

If he is unable to work he should get Illness Benefit based on PRSI Contributions. But that only lasts for 2 years so if he hasn't reached pension age by then he will have to go on a means tested payment.

No Illness Benefit for S stamp contributors.