Illness benefit with a twist

sezyboo

I was wondering if someone had a little advice.
I am on illness benefit due to long term illness since 2006. I live in Germany.
I was just reading the social welfare pages last night and came across the info about holidays. I know that if you are on jobseekers etc you must notify. Is that the same for illness benefit does anyone know? The only holidays we take are over to see family in Ireland.
Could something happen to me for not notifying in the past?
Thanks

DanDublin1982

sezyboo wrote: »

I was wondering if someone had a little advice.
I am on illness benefit due to long term illness since 2006. I live in Germany.
I was just reading the social welfare pages last night and came across the info about holidays. I know that if you are on jobseekers etc you must notify. Is that the same for illness benefit does anyone know? The only holidays we take are over to see family in Ireland.
Could something happen to me for not notifying in the past?
Thanks

Are you on illness benefit where you send in certs, disability allowance where you've been means tested or invalidity pension?

sezyboo

I'm on illness benefit where I send in monthly certs and E115 from here in Germany to Dublin. Thanks for your reply

NinjaTruncs

Are you claiming Irish illness benefit from Germany? I would have thought you could only claim it when in Ireland

sezyboo

I am irish and claim it from Ireland. You can do that in certain cases.

DanDublin1982

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Are you claiming Irish illness benefit from Germany? I would have thought you could only claim it when in Ireland

I would have thought the same but the e115 has thrown me. No idea how that works.

sezyboo

The E115 is the form you have to have your insurance stamp and they send that with your certs from your german doctor to Ireland.
Any ideas about the holiday thingie. If it makes it easier just pretend I asked it in ireland :-) and thanks

DanDublin1982

If you lived in Ireland I'd say you should notify as someone on job seekers would but I'm not sure it makes much difference in your own case...unless you're galavanting about every other week

sezyboo

I wish. LOL
Do you think I could get into problems for not notifying in the past. I never knew you should.

DanDublin1982

sezyboo wrote: »

I wish. LOL
Do you think I could get into problems for not notifying in the past. I never knew you should.

Honestly I think you're grand. Its a benefit, you've established an entitlement to it and as long as you continue to send your documents and they process them I think a weeks holiday here and there doesn't make much difference.

sezyboo

Thank you. I was afraid to ring in case I would open a can of worms and we only ever come to Ireland anyhow LOL

Nomis21

You can travel anywhere anytime on illness benefit but only in EC countries

hawthorne

Nomis21 wrote: »

You can travel anywhere anytime on illness benefit but only in EC countries

How do you know this for sure.
Any link ?

Nomis21

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/disability_and_illness/disability_benefit.html

Payment of Illness Benefit abroad
You can continue to get Illness Benefit if you go to live in another country covered by EU Regulations. You must tell the Department of Social Protection in advance (otherwise you may lose payment or your payment may be delayed).
If you go to live in another country covered by EU Regulations and become ill you may apply for Illness Benefit from Ireland if you paid your last insurance contribution in Ireland or you were getting Jobseeker’s Benefit in Ireland before you went abroad.
Illness Benefit is not paid in countries not covered by EU Regulations.

hawthorne

Unfortunately this still does not answer the question.
The question is:
Can you go on holidays/travel while you are on illness benefit ?
Do you have to ask the DoSP for permission in advance of this ?

I am in a similar situation and do not want to open a can of worms either.
The department could have a certain view on "being sick" and "holidays".
One could argue that both terms are excluding each other- a sick person cannot go on holidays because s/he is sick. It would sound somehow like a declaration of fitness and result in the withdrawl of the illness benefit after a medical examination which would precisely aimed to show you in a "healthy" light.
I was once thrown of the benfit and spend half a year in a limbo.
It was a horrific experience I do not want to go through a second time.

Nomis21

You can travel at any time anywhere in the EU anytime without asking permission.

I was on Irish illness benefit for a year and spent most of that year with my girlfriend in Amsterdam. The CWO asked me when I returned to Ireland if I had been abroad and I said yes I was in Amsterdam most of the year and she said "OK".

hawthorne

People react different.The CWO in one place might be saying OK- but one in another place might hang you for it.
The DoSP has officers stationed on all Irish airports and harbours who question people leaving the country or entering it. The system is in place since 2012 and it's mission is to cut down on socalled "welfare tourists" living abroad but signing on in Ireland for the sole purpose of getting an income.
I do not think it would look great if I am questioned on arrival by DoSP officers about my holiday while being on illness benefit.
It looks to me that your CWO had a great heart and you simply got away with it.
I have to presume that you do not know either if we need permission or not.
As long as I have nothing in writing from the DoSP I will not risk any wrong move which could open a can of worms for me.
It seems to me that this problem is in a grey area and not specifically regulated. This might be ok for some- as in your case- but a total desaster for others. It would depend on whom you meet- and that is like playing the lottery.

Nomis21

I can assure you that the CWO was not doing anything out of the goodness of her heart. Someone in the company that I worked for saw me flying out of the country and reported me. The CWO simply wanted to know if I flew out to an EC country or somewhere outside the EC.

Just because one has an illness it doesn't mean one is not well enough to travel. I was not well enough to operate machinery in my job, I was still well enough to travel.

hawthorne

This is one of the reasons I am worried.
You get sick benefit if you are "not fit for work".
A deciding officer in the DoSP is judging the situation with the help of the cert from your doctor, any other paperwork about you on the desk and a medical assessment carried out by a docotr from the DoSP.
The crucial point is "being fit for work". A person sitting in a wheel chair could be seen as fit for work- s/he could do work in an office at a desk. This is not a joke- it is happening all the time.
Once a person qualified just being sick and certified by his/her doctor. This was changed in being fit for "other work" than usal.
The DoSP accepts that you are sick- but even with your sickness you are able for other work than you did before. This disqualifies you from getting illness benefit.
My point: If you are able to travel and go on holidays you also can do other work and do not qualify for illness benefit.The department would view your situation like this and take appropiate actions.
Unfortuantely this is all due to the financial crisis. They are tightening the rules all the time to save money.
I stick to my point that there are currently no regulations for going on holidays while on illness benefit. It is a grey area and it depends entirely on the deciding officer how the whole thing will work out. It is a lottery.
You was lucky - others might not be that lucky.
It always depends on whom you meet.
My advice to the person in Hamburg:
If you think you can pass another medical assessment- ask for permission form the DoSP.
If you think it might be not such a good idea, you have two choices:
Risk it and come for a holiday without asking. You might be called in for an interview at the airport/harbour directly on your arrival by some DoSP officals.It will be decided then whom you will meet....
Or you might just walk in and out of the country without being asked by anybody.
Do you feel lucky ?
Let us know in the future how it worked out for you.

yabadabado

hawthorne wrote: »

If you think it might be not such a good idea, you have two choices:
Risk it and come for a holiday without asking. You might be called in for an interview at the airport/harbour directly on your arrival by some DoSP officals.It will be decided then whom you will meet....
Or you might just walk in and out of the country without being asked by anybody.
Do you feel lucky ?
Let us know in the future how it worked out for you.

Not a chance of that happening.

hawthorne

yabadabado wrote: »

Not a chance of that happening.

This is what you think. This is what is happening on the ground:


http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/scores-of-social-welfare-tourists-held-at-airports-29800705.html
http://www.eveningecho.ie/2012/08/02/man-arrested-at-cork-airport-in-welfare-fraud-probe/
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/airport-blitz-on-dole-cheats-saves-us-23m-30517268.html


If you search the net, you will find more on the airport/harbour controls.

yabadabado

hawthorne wrote: »

This is what you think. This is what is happening on the ground:


http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/scores-of-social-welfare-tourists-held-at-airports-29800705.html
http://www.eveningecho.ie/2012/08/02/man-arrested-at-cork-airport-in-welfare-fraud-probe/
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/airport-blitz-on-dole-cheats-saves-us-23m-30517268.html


If you search the net, you will find more on the airport/harbour controls.

I don't see any mention of Illness Benefit,do you ?

mp22

Time to close this I think.