Illness benefit backdated

Gettingwed

Hi just wondering if anyone applied to last for illness benefit as in 4 months. Was off work in May for 5 weeks but never applied for it as I was suffering back with anxiety due to another physical medical condition and would not go to my doctor. Was back working but off now and on illness benefit as just after surgery.

Has anyone any experience of successfully been awarded a late claim. If so how did yous go about it?

StackSteevens

Gettingwed wrote: »

Was off work in May for 5 weeks but never applied for [IB] as I was suffering with anxiety due to another physical medical condition and would not go to my doctor.

If someone who you didn't know told you that, what would your reaction be?


Deciding Officers in Social Welfare have discretion to accept late IB claims, but they need to have pretty convincing supporting evidence before they will pay out in such a situation.

Looking at it bureaucratically, for someone to claim IB they will need a Certificate of Incapacity for Work which is normally obtained from their GP. This you don't have and, given that you didn't consult your GP, at the time, it would be close to fraudulent for a GP to give you a cert purely on the basis of what you tell him/her four months after the claimed illness.

However, if your GP is aware of your particular issues, perhaps s/he might consider issuing a backdated Cert. So that's where you start the process.

If you got this, you'd next have to make a credible case to Social Welfare explaining why you didn't (or couldn't) apply for IB back in May. Again, a GP's note might help here.

So it is possible to be paid, but unless you can make a very convincing case on paper - including supporting medical evidence - your chances of succeeding are probably quite low.

Gettingwed

Thanks for this, I have a copy of a sick cert I provided to work as it was given to me while in hospital in May so will try this. Worth a try anyway. Appreciate you reply