Illness benefit

me4many

Any ideas on this please..
Receiving illness benefit and his wife gets Increase adult allowance for the past 18 months. The couple received a form in the last week or so from the department of social protection which asks about her income/savings. She has no separate income or savings but does have a house in her name which she had valued as requested by the dept. It has been given a sale value of €285K . ( high value for the size of the house)
The house is not rented out.
How will the above affect their weekly illness benefit of € 312.00

Thanks .

eastbono

The adult dependant payment on illness benefit is means tested. Going on the value of the house and if there is no outstanding mortgage then its more than likely that the adult dependant portion will be greatly reduced or stopped. It also likely that if this property was in the possession of the spouse from the beginning of the illness benefit claim then an overpayment will be assessed and will have to be paid back.

me4many

Thanks for reply.
The house was in her name since before the illness benefit claim so I'm surprised it wasn't taken into account from the start. She would not be the kind to withhold that info on any form.
Do you know how or at what rate the overpayment would be clawed back.

Thanks.

eastbono

Well we dont know yet if there is an overpayment and she wouldnt have been completing the form it would be the claimant. AFAIK up to 15% can be deducted from the payment. If the overpayment isnt a lot the person could agree to pay €10-€15 per week. If its not paid off in full before illness benefit ceases then it will attach itself to any other sw payments in the future.

me4many

Thanks again.
I suppose what I meant was if the form asked the question do you own another property he/she would answer yes. Unfortunately they haven't got or cant find a copy of the form from eighteen months ago.

eastbono

TBH an overpayment is an overpayment whether the fault lies with the claimant or the department. From what you are saying there was some review form sent out 18 months ago. All the claimant can state is that this form was returned. Its unlikely that the Dept would not take action before now if they had received the form. Perhaps they never received it through the post.

me4many

Just to be clear.
The husband sent in his first illness benefit form from his doctor about 18 months ago.
He got a form from the dept. about a week ago asking for details of his wife's income, savings, properties etc. He completed that form ( giving his own estimate of property value based on a similar property nearby ) and returned it to the dept. The dept. returned the form to him asking for proof of value. He got the property (house) valued by an auctioneer. The form needs to be completed and returned in the next few days as requested.
That's the position at the moment.
Thanks again for your help.

eastbono

me4many wrote: »

Just to be clear.
The husband sent in his first illness benefit form from his doctor about 18 months ago.
He got a form from the dept. about a week ago asking for details of his wife's income, savings, properties etc. He completed that form ( giving his own estimate of property value based on a similar property nearby ) and returned it to the dept. The dept. returned the form to him asking for proof of value. He got the property (house) valued by an auctioneer. The form needs to be completed and returned in the next few days as requested.
That's the position at the moment.
Thanks again for your help.

Ok he obviously didnt declare his spouses income/savings, properties when he applied for illness benefit 18 months ago. I thought that he had sent off details at that time. Its obvious now that the Dept have received information that his spouse has another property. I would think that an overpayment will be assessed from day one of this claim as ownership of the property was not declared.

haveringchick

The husband's initial application for IB invited him to apply to have his wife considered his dependent. The form asks a direct question regarding the spouses ownership of property. OP are you stating that he mentioned this property in the original application.

me4many

A new bit of info has come to hand.

He was receiving jobseekers benefit and went directly from that to illness benefit. He doesn't remember filling out any forms other than the one for jobseekers benefit. He said he told the person at the counter filling out that form about the other property. ( doesn't have copy of the form ) .

The form he received from the dept. about 10 days ago asked about his wife's earnings/savings /property. There are no earnings/savings. He declared the property and gave an approx. value. The form was returned to him asking for a valuation.

Thanks

eastbono

Was he receiving a payment for spouse on jsb as well...if he was then this will also be affected with spouses property. He would have had to fill out a form for illness benefit. Its looking like an overpayment will be assessed. Assuming he is getting €124.00 pw for his adult dependant then just do the maths on that by 18 months and if he was getting it on jsb then add that on as well. With the amount of her property it is unlikely that he would receive any adult dependant payment.

haveringchick

Wether he remembers it or not he certainly filled up a form for both JSB and IB. . He was getting €124 per week for his wife that he wasn't entitled to so he'll have to pay it all back.

me4many

Thanks for the help.
I was reading a bit about the rules on citizens information. It seems illness benefit may be allowed for up to 24 months. As he has been on I/B for 18 months and assuming he is still on it for another 6 months what method will be used to reclaim the overpayment. Will his and her benefit (iqa) simply stop from now.
I would say the auctioneer has overvalued the house by quite a bit but does that really matter a jot.

eastbono

The adult dependant portion will stop. He will receive a letter in the post outlining the amount of the over payment. Up to 15% of his personal rate can be deducted by the dept each week.