Illness benefit problems since new form

Rebel_Kn1ght

I just rang the local office and was told there was a payment made into my acc on friday evening but i still haven't gotten it but at last it sounds like I'm going to be sorted

Flippyfloppy

Rebel_Kn1ght wrote: »

I just rang the local office and was told there was a payment made into my acc on friday evening but i still haven't gotten it but at last it sounds like I'm going to be sorted

Did you ring your local intereo office?

Flippyfloppy

Callymosh wrote: »

Phones are on, just spent over an hour on hold only to be cut off....
Now I have to start all over. This is ridiculous..

Same. The hold music and the message in Irish every couple of minutes is depressing AF.

Rebel_Kn1ght

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

Did you ring your local intereo office?

Yes my local office sorted it for me but I live in a small town and know the people working there anyway.

NickD

Hey guys bit of an update, they rang me just now. I'm assuming it's all the messages I've been sending them on Twitter. The dude sorted it out over the phone and said I'll be paid Wednesday as normal (????) And that I'll receive a grand total of €129 in arrears. I have no idea where they got that figure from, by my calculations I'm due at least three weeks, but at this stage I just don't care.

nicrob08

NickD wrote: »

Hey guys bit of an update, they rang me just now. I'm assuming it's all the messages I've been sending them on Twitter. The dude sorted it out over the phone and said I'll be paid Wednesday as normal (????) And that I'll receive a grand total of €129 in arrears. I have no idea where they got that figure from, by my calculations I'm due at least three weeks, but at this stage I just don't care.

I got a call as well this morning, most likely as I was on and on at them on Twitter also. He said to me my certs covered my claim until the 10th, I said thats right and I put my other certs in, he said thats right we keyed them on the 12th. He started saying this to me as reason why I hadnt been paid but stopped himself obviously as there was no reason. He also mentioned my arrears to be paid which is a much lower figure than Im due. But hey, at least something will be there at some stage this week.

Bannasidhe

I only began my claim end of September so haven't got a brass farthing yet have been told claim awarded that are just waiting for employer to return one form about sick pay.
But I have been sending in sick certs every week and I noticed they are photocopies. Said it to the GP Practice Manager (large Cork city GP service)today and she said the GP's issue with the new forms is data protection related, they don't know exactly who has access to the electronic format and the GPs have no way of keeping track. According to her they received a grand total of 11 forms on a Friday afternoon, were told to begin using them from Monday with no consultation and they took one look at the forms and said a) these have data protection issues and b) 11 forms wouldn't last us til lunch time on the first day. I said the dept say it's about money and she laughed and said they always say that but she we get paid either way.
The whole thing is, in her words a 'clusterf*ck' where someone in the dept thought let's streamline all this but didn't consider the data protection implications from the GPs/medical point of view.

My brother-in-law was on illness and his GP never even got the new forms - they were told to use up the old ones - which have now run out so they are also using photocopies.

wonski

Not sure what data protection issue there could be tbh.

My gp has used new forms and thats what I was sending so that wouldn't be the reason for my payment to be stopped anyway.

Those two groups keep blaming each other and the patients are the ones paying the price.

My gp has requested me collecting the form weekly despite me being on crutches after knee surgery and being signed off from work for 6 weeks initially with no chance for me to get back to work within 8 weeks anyway.

Let's just say walking up and down on crutches around the town was not fun. And risky. Especially in wet weather. Something my surgeon would not recommend tbh.

My next payment should be in on Wednesday, but as positive as I usually am I expect nothing tbh. Better than being disappointed.

tonybuzz32000

Hi all, just a quick update. So after failing to get through to the illness benefit since last week, I contacted them on Twitter and spoke to someone who said they'd call me back. Heard nothing and rang the general inquiry's line 071 9193302 to understand what was going on. They can't do anything but can give you info. They emailed up to illness benefit and within 30 minutes I received a call. Arrears and payment sorted with the click of a button. Hope this helps.

Hesthea

I sent them yesterday a message by twitter. Today i've got an answer in which they asked me for my contact number to pass to IB. I did that and so far nothing.

Today i went to Welfare and requested to speak with a CWO. Their answer was the same as always. Nothing in the system. Explained what i have done till that moment. They gave me a few papers to fill in and then they told me to go to my GP to get a duplicate of my certs (which they gave me), my workplace to get a doc in which states i am employed by them and not receiving any payment and to go to my bank to get a bank statement (they gave the option to print one if i have online banking). Only the one from my job is missing atm.

Meanwhile, when i got home i had an envelope from welfare. It was an Application form for Illness Benefit and Injury. No letter. No indications of what i should do or where i should send it to. Just the form and nothing else.

Tomorrow will got to the welfare again and ask what i should do with it tbh.

Any thoughts?

banie01

A day short last week and this week no payment deposited as of yet.
I wonder if any other cohort of welfare recipient would be treated so shabbily for so long?
This has been ongoing since August!

One wonders whether the accountability lies!
I'm not looking for a ministerial resignation, rather a mea culpa and an actual plan to resolve the matter!

Rebel_Kn1ght

I got last weeks payment this morning along with the previous weeks arrears so finally got sorted. Hopefully everyone else gets sorted soon. I suppose it's a lottery to see if we'll get this fridays payment

LegacyUser

I’ve being sending in new certs and haven’t been paid in 3 weeks now plus my daughter was born in June and never got the increase for her either, I’ve always worked I have sufficient stamps, I was born without my right hip, had one constructed and put in which lasted 30 years and is now riddled in arthritis and I can barely walk, I can’t get through to them for 2 weeks now spending 4-6 hours everyday on hold, behind on rent, bills everything what do they expect us to do, I live in a small village outside a town that has a cwo for one hour a week who never seems to be there

thecube

I received half payment last week and nothing this week.
I cant get through on the phone so going to join twitter and see if i can get any joy through that.
Never used twitter before and was wondering when i sign up do i choose a nickname or do i use my own name?
Also if i go to the CWO do i have to bring bank statements, proof of income?(my wife works part time and earns 100euro per week)
At least i have had something, it's inhuman the way some people are being treated.

wonski

Wow, what a surprise. Unexpectedly missing 165 from last week has been credited to my account today

Fingers crossed 198 will be there tomorrow morning, too.

Looks like they are in the process of fixing it.

woody84

Just got last weeks arrears and this week's pay into my account tonight. Hopefully everyone else is getting sorted out now too.

NickD

I have just got a payment of one week plus 3 weeks arrears, which is more than the dude told me I'd get. I think I'm sorted...... for this week at least. Hope ye all get sorted soon

Fagashlil

Still nothing today, last payment was a 1/2 payment on the 8th. They were uncontactable by phone yesterday again-beyond a joke a this stage

LegacyUser

I got through the General quieries line. They told me that certs beed now be in 5 weeks in advance so that your not getting paid late.My GP said they cant give certs out in advance and no nothing about this,there is a huge lack of communication here.

BohsCeltic

Fagashlil wrote: »

Still nothing today, last payment was a 1/2 payment on the 8th. They were uncontactable by phone yesterday again-beyond a joke a this stage

Same with me. Haven't been paid since the 5th and have been using the new forms.

wonski

Money not in yet, but they often show up later for me so no need to panic yet.

purplestar1986

My partner has been out sick from work since 24th July, 1st cert she sent in was the old one and every one after that was the new one. She hasn't received a single payment.

Letters, phone calls, tweets have amounted to nothing.

Called local intero office and was told they don't have access to much anymore as their systems were changed so she couldn't tell us anything.

My other half doesn't want to go to CWO in case it sets her payments back even more, as seems to be the case with some people.

hawthorne

Just checked my bank account.
After only Euro 60.20 last week I got ....NOTHING today for a change!
The messing around continues...

Vermelho

Mei1726 wrote: »

I got through the General quieries line. They told me that certs beed now be in 5 weeks in advance so that your not getting paid late.My GP said they cant give certs out in advance and no nothing about this,there is a huge lack of communication here.

Maybe that’s why my cert due date switched to a five week interval rather than the usual four. Has anyone else on monthly certs seen the intervals increase to five weeks on the letters or texts about cert due dates?

Vermelho

They just posted this updated statement about the various problems:
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Illness-Benefit-Customer-Update.aspx

Vermelho

This new FAQ also, it’s clear as mud
http://www.welfare.ie/en/Pages/Illness-Benefit-Processing-FAQ.aspx

Fagashlil

purplestar1986 wrote: »

My partner has been out sick from work since 24th July, 1st cert she sent in was the old one and every one after that was the new one. She hasn't received a single payment.

Letters, phone calls, tweets have amounted to nothing.

Called local intero office and was told they don't have access to much anymore as their systems were changed so she couldn't tell us anything.

My other half doesn't want to go to CWO in case it sets her payments back even more, as seems to be the case with some people.

Get her to check they've actually activated her claim, when mine was switched from occupational injury benefit, no one actually authorised the claim as it was in the middle of the switch over.

LegacyUser

I just got through after 1 hr on hold....to tell me they don't have any of my certs and asked me to get duplicates from my Dr....1 month later...joke so angry..no apologies..nothing

splinter65

Mei1726 wrote: »

I got through the General quieries line. They told me that certs beed now be in 5 weeks in advance so that your not getting paid late.My GP said they cant give certs out in advance and no nothing about this,there is a huge lack of communication here.

Well that totally contradicts what the statement on welfare website says today so you can just ignore what you were told over the phone and go with the website.

wonski

wonski wrote: »

Wow, what a surprise. Unexpectedly missing 165 from last week has been credited to my account today

Fingers crossed 198 will be there tomorrow morning, too.

Looks like they are in the process of fixing it.

Well, unless tsb is messing with me again as they have lately credited my wages and other payments very late, there is no money lodged from the department.

The good news is they did provide the public with some sort of explanation, so I have to believe they won't let me down again and will work through the backlog quickly enough.

They definitely need to provide us with manned phoneline that does not require hours on the phone a day and gives us a chance to talk to a human on the other end who can fix this and authorize payments on the spot.

Comfortable enough for another week or two, but things will start getting tough soon and some customers are really getting hard done by this.

Leaving people without money for week is unacceptable. Leaving them without payments for more than that is a disgrace.

Good to see some payments coming through this week but looks like it is still all over the place.

And no, I won't be going to cwo with my bank statements and whatever other crap they want as this seems to complicate things even more. I guess not everyone has that choice, but even asking us to do this is instead of providing proper customer service is a joke at this stage.

Rant over.