Supplementary Welfare Allowance - waiting times

Phil1969

My wife applied for Supplementary Welfare Allowance SWA around 6 weeks ago but we have been told it is still pending. What is the normal waiting times?

splinter65

Phil1969 wrote: »

My wife applied for Supplementary Welfare Allowance SWA around 6 weeks ago but we have been told it is still pending. What is the normal waiting times?

They would have requested all your financial details for both of you.
I would have expected a desicion within a fortnight of your having given the CWO absolutely everything that was requested.

Phil1969

splinter65 wrote: »

They would have requested all your financial details for both of you.
I would have expected a desicion within a fortnight of your having given the CWO absolutely everything that was requested.

Yes, we give them everything they requested weeks ago. However, my wife was told she had to apply for illness benefit first even though we were also told she would be refused it as she had not worked long enough in the last 104 weeks. Once that was refused she would be able to apply for the SWA, which was submitted at the same time as advised by the INTRO reception.

The INTREO reception advised me to phone the welfare officer in charge of my wife's case but was not sure if that was a good thing to do. They may see it as them getting hassle from us and give us a decision against us. Do you know if it is a good idea to phone the officer or best to wait? We have been lucky not to have claimed anything in the past so not sure what to do.

Cheers

splinter65

Phil1969 wrote: »

Yes, we give them everything they requested weeks ago. However, my wife was told she had to apply for illness benefit first even though we were also told she would be refused it as she had not worked long enough in the last 104 weeks. Once that was refused she would be able to apply for the SWA, which was submitted at the same time as advised by the INTRO reception.

The INTREO reception advised me to phone the welfare officer in charge of my wife's case but was not sure if that was a good thing to do. They may see it as them getting hassle from us and give us a decision against us. Do you know if it is a good idea to phone the officer or best to wait? We have been lucky not to have claimed anything in the past so not sure what to do.

Cheers

Have you as a couple got no income at all since she has become ill?

Phil1969

splinter65 wrote: »

Have you as a couple got no income at all since she has become ill?

I earn around 100 euros per week doing some part time self employed work. And, we also get 420 child benefit for our 3 children. So, a total of around 800 euros per month which we have been getting since February. My wife stopped working early January but we were still getting FIS until they stopped it because my wife was sick and not working.

We are currently living off what savings we had which will not last much longer, and we have hospital bills, school activity fees, prescriptions etc to pay for too so getting a bit worrying now.

Edit: Plus we live in Wexford, and my wife and I need to make fortnightly trips to the Mater hospital in Dublin which is another expense.

Thanks

splinter65

Phil1969 wrote: »

I earn around 100 euros per week doing some part time self employed work. And, we also get 420 child benefit for our 3 children. So, a total of around 800 euros per month which we have been getting since February. My wife stopped working early January but we were still getting FIS until they stopped it because my wife was sick and not working.

We are currently living off what savings we had which will not last much longer, and we have hospital bills, school activity fees, prescriptions etc to pay for too so getting a bit worrying now.

Edit: Plus we live in Wexford, and my wife and I need to make fortnightly trips to the Mater hospital in Dublin which is another expense.

Thanks

It’s the self employed bit that is delaying the whole show . Plus you really can’t have any savings at all with SWA. The CB is neither here nor there. I would go in this afternoon and ask to speak to someone . As long as you are a civilized person( I’m sure you are) there shouldn’t be any problems.

Phil1969

splinter65 wrote: »

It’s the self employed bit that is delaying the whole show . Plus you really can’t have any savings at all with SWA. The CB is neither here nor there. I would go in this afternoon and ask to speak to someone . As long as you are a civilized person( I’m sure you are) there shouldn’t be any problems.

Thanks splinter65, I will give it another try, last time they said phone but prefer to speak to someone person.

Phil1969

Just awarded SWA commencing from tomorrow which is good news.

I received a letter to say we will get the first payment tomorrow and then the initial payments every Thursday. No mention of back payment from when we applied which was 8 weeks ago (after checked my dates properly, not 6 as posted above).

For anyone reading this and is looking to apply for SWA, I would recommend finding everything you can about the benefit system via the boards.ie and citizens advice before applying. It seems that you need to be applying for disability, jobseekers or benefits before applying for SWA.

splinter65

Phil1969 wrote: »

Just awarded SWA commencing from tomorrow which is good news.

I received a letter to say we will get the first payment tomorrow and then the initial payments every Thursday. No mention of back payment from when we applied which was 8 weeks ago (after checked my dates properly, not 6 as posted above).

For anyone reading this and is looking to apply for SWA, I would recommend finding everything you can about the benefit system via the boards.ie and citizens advice before applying. It seems that you need to be applying for disability, jobseekers or benefits before applying for SWA.

Your right Phil . You can’t get SWA unless you’ve applied for another payment and your waiting for it to be processed and you have more or less no money.

Phil1969

splinter65 wrote: »

Your right Phil . You can’t get SWA unless you’ve applied for another payment and your waiting for it to be processed and you have more or less no money.

Thanks splinter65.

My wife had applied for illness benefit at the same time as applying for SWA. We were told that she would be refused illness benefit because she had not worked 104 weeks so we needed to apply for the SWA. My understanding at the time was that this is instead of the illness benefit.

But, now my wife's claim for illness benefit has been disapproved as expected. But it seems that while we were applying for the illness benefit and receiving no SWA while waiting, she will only get the SWA from this week. And, as she has been disapproved for the illness benefit then nothing to get back dated on. Do they back date SWA?

Thanks again.