illness Benifit Contributions & PUP

Dempo1

Morning All.

Slightly complicated situation. My GP is issuing an incapacity to work cert this week. Essentially it's likely I'll be unable to work for quite some time.

I have never claimed illness benefit before. I see IB is assessed primarily on contributions from 2 years previous so 2020 will be applicable in my case.

Of course we all Know what happened (Covid) and I was many months on PUP, on and off. I've checked contributions for 2020 and its showing 52A contributions paid. I recall because of the nature of PUP, full contribution would be applied to each payment.

My question, am I correct in my reading of this and will 52A contrubtions in 2020 be enough to qualify for illness Benefit.

Thank you in advance if anyone can clarify.

ari101

You need 104 total since starting work, as well as 39 in 2020 of which 13 must be paid not credited. (You seem to say the PUP ones are coming up as paid not credited, so that should cover part of the requirement, if not though they can review 2018, 19 or 21 record to check you meet the 13 paid contributions in a year). That will get you entitlement to up to 1 year of benefit, and if you have more than 260 lifetime contributions you will be eligible for up to 2 years benefit.

Best thing to do is ring the Illness Benefit Helpline: (01) 704 3300

P.S sorry to hear you are not well, hoping things improve sooner.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118589536#Comment_118589536

Thanks so much @ari101

Yes, my concern was wether PUP contributions paid or credited but its clearly showing 52a paid contributions for 2020 and I was quite a few months on PUP during that year. I've worked many years prior and have 6 full years of contributions, I'd be confident over a life time (I'm 54), I'd have plenty of contributions generally.

Thanks so much for the quick response and kind words 😉

ari101

Glad to be able to help - you've definitely earned it will all the good information you dish out around here! 😁

TooTired123

Yes you had a contribution paid for you every week you were on PUP so you will be good for IB. If I’m about 9 months you are unlikely to be fit for work for a further 12 months, and you are considerably unfit for work then look into applying for invalidity pension.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118589964#Comment_118589964

Hi @TooTired123 and thanks for the response and indeed all your advice throughout the forum 😏

Yes, it's very likely I'll be on IB for quite some time and have been looking at longer term options . Honestly, I've been putting off the inevitable but have to be realistic.

Thanks again 😏

TooTired123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118590009#Comment_118590009

It’s just that the end of IB comes around very quickly and suddenly and it’s best to be ready. Sorry your unwell. The old saying rings true, your health is your wealth.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118590225#Comment_118590225

Absolutely 👌 it's a long term illness I have and gradually it's taken it's toll .

Thanks again 😏

TheRunner21

Hi Dempo,

Just wondering did you get sorted with the Illness Benefit in the end?

I’m in a sort of similar situation myself and am unsure how much to expect from the Illness Benefit.

I was on IB from December 19 for a few months. I was due to return to work on light duties part time to see how I got on, unfortunately before I went back my place closed down and I was made redundant so I’ve been on the PUP since.

My condition has got much worse over the last couple of months and I’m due to see my GP later in the week and I presume he’ll say I’m unfit for work for the foreseeable future. Do you have any idea how the IB rates will apply for someone that was on a mixture of PUP and IB for 2020? Not sure if it’s relevant but I’ve years of full time work up until the end of 2019.

Hope you don’t mind me asking a few questions but this has me worried sick.

Dempo1

I've sent a PM as my situation complicated, some advice attached based on my experience but no need to worry.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058231599/illness-benifit-contributions-pup

Hi Dempo,

If you were paying a qualifying contribution class prior to having to claim PUP (A, E, H or P) then the weeks on PUP are counted as paid contributions for that period. The problem is that these have to be manually inputted onto the system at the moment so if you didn't have the required cons for 2020 it MIGHT cause an initial award for Credits but either a quick phone call (9am sharp in the morning is the best time to get through) or email (though this may take a bit longer) would probably sort that out for you.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863103#Comment_118863103

Hi Necro

Thank you for that, I've since confirmed that for the periods I was in receipt of PUP a full paid contribution was given. Indeed the year 2020, contributions updated on my contributions statement and I have 52a for that year (This is the applicable year for an illness benefit claim made in 2022). I never fully understood the difference between paid and credited contribution but understood (vaguely) only paid contributions can be counted towards an illness benefit application.

Thanks again 😉

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863166#Comment_118863166

Well actually credits can count towards qualification as well. You need to have a minimum of 13 paid contributions but the rest can all be credits. Similarly if you had say 39 credits for 2020 and 13 paid contributions in either 2019, 2018, 2021 or even 2022 you would also have an entitlement to IB.

The only issue there is it will likely impact your rate of payment as the rate is based on your average weekly income for the governing year (which for claims in 2022 is 2020 as you've said). But when it comes to PUP what we do is we take the rate of PUP, multiply it by the number of weeks that a person was in receipt of it in 2020 and input the total manually into the claim because they are (correctly due to the circumstances surrounding PUP) paid contributions as opposed to credited ones.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863205#Comment_118863205

That's really interesting and good to know, I wasn't aware of that, I just assumed they only look at the applicable year when making a claim. I've worked all my life (now 54) so was reasonably confident I would qualify, it was the PUP that added to my confusion and worry. Thanks so much for the clarification and info on how illness benefit is assessed, its put my mind at ease.

I was awaiting some additional medical tests and results so slight delay in applying but it's likely to happen in the coming weeks.

Thanks again 😊

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863205#Comment_118863205

Sorry to hijack Dempo1's thread , but do you know if the 2021 PUP payments are visible yet in the contribution statement, as I only see the 36 weeks where I worked and nothing else, could they yet be added?

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118893791#Comment_118893791

Hi, The last time I checked , just recently, no they've not been added, I'm not sure why 🤔

Thanks Dempo1, checked this week and they're not there for me either...