Illness Benefit; how long is the process?

Urethra Franklin.

Hi all. I have been sick with an undiagnosed condition for literally a year. For a TLDR I left my job over it/circumstance. I have been applying for new jobs as I was told the test I needed would be a 2 month wait which is now over but it turs out its an 8 month delay minimum. I dont think I can work like this I have had no income for 6 weeks. I am considering applying for unemployment benefit, I got in contact via email with the local intreo office and they said I could apply for illness Benefit however I checked citizens information and it says to apply from the first day you are sick. Is there a huge backlog and long wait when applying for these payments initially and do I stand a chance of getting illness benefit given that I did not apply for illness benefit as soon as I got sick. Also what would my rate be? I was on a good salary before, above 300 anyways which is the barrier for the highest rate but for the past 6 weeks I've had no income so would that put me at the lowest rate? I literally cannot afford to go on that rate; it pays 90 euro a week and my rent is more than that per month; I literally don't think I could find anything cheaper in the county! Ive seen triple rooms go for more per bed.

StackSteevens

Urethra Franklin. wrote: »

Hi all. I have been sick with an undiagnosed condition for literally a year.

For a TLDR I left my job over it/circumstance.

I have been applying for new jobs as I was told the test I needed would be a 2 month wait which is now over but it turs out its an 8 month delay minimum.

I dont think I can work like this I have had no income for 6 weeks.

I am considering applying for unemployment benefit, I got in contact via email with the local intreo office and they said I could apply for illness Benefit however I checked citizens information and it says to apply from the first day you are sick.

Is there a huge backlog and long wait when applying for these payments initially and do I stand a chance of getting illness benefit given that I did not apply for illness benefit as soon as I got sick.

Also what would my rate be? I was on a good salary before, above 300 anyways which is the barrier for the highest rate but for the past 6 weeks I've had no income so would that put me at the lowest rate?

I literally cannot afford to go on that rate; it pays 90 euro a week and my rent is more than that per month; I literally don't think I could find anything cheaper in the county! Ive seen triple rooms go for more per bed.

1. Are you currently fit for work, available for work and actively seeking work?
If no, then you're not eligible for JB/JA.
If yes then you can apply for Jobseekers Benefit / Jobseekers allowance - it's the same form for both. You could also ask that it be backdated, but you;ll need to explain why you didn't look for it sooner.


2. You may be able to apply for Illness Benefit (IB), but only if your GP is willing to certify that you have been too sick to work for the past year or since you quit your job. In fact, your GP should have kick started the IB process for you a year ago or whenever you stopped work. Why didn't this happen? (You don't need to tell me, but you will need to tell Social Welfare).

Either way, once you have applied for a social welfare payment - be it JA/JB or IB you can then apply for supplementary welfare allowance* to tide you over while you await a decision on your application. It's not much but it's the catch-all payment for people who have no income. You'll need to ask INTREO how to contact your local Community Welfare Officer.

Please try to remember that your statement that you "literally cannot afford to go on that rate" won't have any bearing on how much Social Welfare will pay you. They'll pay you in accordance with the terms of the scheme rather in terms of your financial requirements. So the sooner you start applying the better. Contact the GP's surgery to start the IB process.

Finally, if you stopped work last year are you eligible for a refund of PAYE/USC? And the same question for this year. Check that out while you're at it.

* https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/supplementary_welfare_allow.html

Urethra Franklin.

StackSteevens wrote: »

1. Are you currently fit for work, available for work and actively seeking work?
If no, then you're not eligible for JB/JA.
If yes then you can apply for Jobseekers Benefit / Jobseekers allowance - it's the same form for both. You could also ask that it be backdated, but you;ll need to explain why you didn't look for it sooner.


2. You may be able to apply for Illness Benefit (IB), but only if your GP is willing to certify that you have been too sick to work for the past year or since you quit your job. In fact, your GP should have kick started the IB process for you a year ago or whenever you stopped work. Why didn't this happen? (You don't need to tell me, but you will need to tell Social Welfare).

Either way, once you have applied for a social welfare payment - be it JA/JB or IB you can then apply for supplementary welfare allowance* to tide you over while you await a decision on your application. It's not much but it's the catch-all payment for people who have no income. You'll need to ask INTREO how to contact your local Community Welfare Officer.

Please try to remember that your statement that you "literally cannot afford to go on that rate" won't have any bearing on how much Social Welfare will pay you. They'll pay you in accordance with the terms of the scheme rather in terms of your financial requirements. So the sooner you start applying the better. Contact the GP's surgery to start the IB process.

Finally, if you stopped work last year are you eligible for a refund of PAYE/USC? And the same question for this year. Check that out while you're at it.

* https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/supplementary_welfare_schemes/supplementary_welfare_allow.html

Hi thanks for this; I was working 'officially' up until 6 weeks ago but I had been using my company sick leave for about 2 months prior. I worked in office for months but I just did not eat breakfast or any snacks or lunch while at work-my illess meant i was regurgitating food and dinks for hours with very strong acid-it was very difficult to work and sometimes I just didnt eat for several days consecutively. I went to my GP and all my tests were put down as urgent but my GP messed up continually for 3 months straight by misaddressing the mai meaning the hospitals never received the requests for my medical test appointments. Then COVID happened. We were made wotk from home and that was horrendous-I would eat at home-and then start puking and then fainting and passing out-I had to work till midnight to try to hit targets when I was normally supposed to be finished by 4pm-thats how much the condition affected me-I had to do double the number of hours I was supposed to work in order to hit target-something easily enough achievable had I not been sick. I couldnt keep doing that and I went on sick leave-when I was making no progress with tests and my sick leave was coming to end I felt I had no choice but to leave my job. I managed to get a few medical tests during covid waiting months months on a time for these straight forward tests and nothing proved conclusive but the last medical test I needed I was told would be a 2 month wait max-I waited 2 months and started applying for jobs a few weeks ago-however when the 2 month mark passed I called 'the only hospital in the country conducting this simple test' and its a 8 month minimum wait despite being private/put forward as urgent. So I have another 6 months until I get this test that was supposed to get me a diagnosis/begin a treatment plan. I didnt apply for IB before as I thought it was only going to be temporary given what my doctor had said.

As I am only out of work 6 weeks can I apply for any payment in the meanwhile to help give some income-I am eating through my savings. If I do apply for IB will my rate be determined based on my income from my job or the past 6 weeks when I've 0 income?

StackSteevens

Urethra Franklin. wrote: »

As I am only out of work 6 weeks can I apply for any payment in the meanwhile to help give some income-I am eating through my savings. If I do apply for IB will my rate be determined based on my income from my job or the past 6 weeks when I've 0 income?

I doubt it, but you could ask the CWO. And be sure to request that that your IB be backdated on the IB application form - try to explain why you didn't apply immediately after you stopped working.

The IB guidelines state that

"IB rates are graduated according to your average weekly earnings in the relevant tax year. Average weekly earnings are calculated by dividing the total reckonable gross earnings (without deductions) in the relevant tax year by the actual number of weeks worked in that year."

For a 2020 IB application, the "relevant tax year" is 2018.

So look up your 2018 P60 and if your average weekly earnings exceeded €300 then you'll get the max payment.

Don't forget to apply for supplementary welfare as soon as you have applied for IB - but bear in mind that as it's means tested, your savings may matter if they're significant.

SourSessions

The first €5000 is disregarded for SWA and anything above that is assessed.