Illness Benefit - Has the application been discarded

TheGlossy

Hi all,

I submitted my illness benefit application via MyGovID.ie and roughly two weeks later, they chased me for the certificate of incapacity which I sent in hard copy to their services. I never heard from them again and when I checked my application on MyGovID.ie, it went from "under review" to "no ongoing claim". There is no payment in the payment history tab either.

I have tried ringing them on numerous occasions and I am met with an automated message saying they are too busy, then the call drops. I tried sending them emails and those went unanswered too. I will send another copy of the certificate of incapacity via registered post this time.

I'm honestly at loss here because my employer deducted the illness benefit from my last salary and now I'm out of the money on both ends.

Has the application been discarded altogether or how can I get a status?

Thank you.

Dempo1

I'm not sure another Thread on this is going to yield a different answer to what has been offered , you've also raised this issue on another site.

The illness section, whilst under enormous pressure will respond in time , you've done as much as is possible including emails but I believe the real issue was your delay in submitting a cert from your GP , which required the department to contact you and chase up. This is a fundamental requirement on application for illness benefit, not an after thought or later requirement.

By all means raise an official complaint with the department but at this stage and after numerous posts on this matter , its clear creating a new thread won't yield anything new on the answers & opinions already offered .

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855723#Comment_118855723

Me posting on a different website is no one's business and should not have been brought up. It is private and goes against privacy rules.

In any case, the submission of the certificate was not an "after-thought". I'm fully aware it had to be posted as part of the application but I had severe issues during that time and I was not able to physically post it until 2 weeks after I submitted my application. It happens. I posted it within the prescribed 6 weeks. While I understand they chased me and the delay may have caused an issue, I was still within the prescribed timeframe when I sent the certificate, so it does not warrant them discarding my application without any response regardless of how busy they are.

Appreciate the response though.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855750#Comment_118855750

Your correct re it being no one's business but way off the mark re GDPR, but now I understand a little more your obsession with was your mistake, but this is getting a little tiresome, what your expecting from multi posts is beyond me , the error was clearly yours , off you go with your official complaint, hopefully that will be dealt with a little quicker than your assertions on how your illness benefit claim was dealt with.

angeleyes

Hi OP

I was out sick myself for 8 weeks due to surgery and by the time the payments actually came in I was ready to return to work. However, I still require chemo and radiation and I need to take time off work and have reapplied. My G.P sent in the Cert electronically to them but I find you still have to chase.

I've gotten the dropped calls so many times, but I find ringing in the afternoon, I can generally get through. The best of luck with it.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855764#Comment_118855764

It is not an error. It was a delay, I was sick and was not able to got to the post to send it right away. Life happens. As far as I am aware, the application needs to be submitted within 6 weeks of becoming ill and I sent in my certificate after 3 weeks. I'd understand if I had submitted it after the 6 weeks period, but I was still within the time frame is all I'm saying.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855774#Comment_118855774

It was and just to add, your also incorrect re prescribed time. You are required to submit a GP cert at time of application, not after the fact, perhaps your confusing this with the requirements re applying for illness benefit within 6 weeks of a diagnosed illness or incapacity.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855794#Comment_118855794

There is no option to submit it as part of the online application, so it has to be sent by post. Therefore, it will be "after the fact" regardless unless you wish to send it before even submitting the application.

When it is an online process "at the time of" does not hold much sense if you can't submit supporting documentation online.

I was sick, was not able to make it to the post during my illness, end of the story. If I had enough physical capacity to make it to the post, I wouldn't have been off work in the first place.

There is no point in trying to be overly rude or aggressive. I'm not looking to be lectured.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855831#Comment_118855831

I accept there is no option to submit the cert online and perhaps your GP doesn't do them electronically (my own does) , I'm simply saying a paper one should have been submitted ASAP .

For what it's worth , I believe due to the delay in the department receiving the cert, your claim was put on hold or perhaps closed. As you've now submitted the cert , the claim is then looked at again & reviewed and unfortunately anything that goes to review can and is caught up in additional delays .

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855871#Comment_118855871

No, the GP does not do e-Certs. As a matter of fact, they weren't even aware you could submit the application online and told me to submit a paper application instead.

I'm guessing they closed the file since it doesn't come up online anymore. They closed the file exactly 6 weeks after I initially became ill (first day on the certificate), that's why I keep referring to the 6 weeks. I had already sent the certificate three weeks prior, so it shouldn't have been closed.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855893#Comment_118855893

Whilst I believe there is a mechanism to do an online application (Partly) generally it seems to be the advice to do it manually by post (Form IB1) With your cert or if GP submitting E cert , Just IB1 form with a note re e cert .

Scroll down to how to apply

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/disability_and_illness/disability_benefit.html

I thought you took some time off work due to a bereavement?

At least, that is what you said in your threads complaining about your work colleagues.

Or was this a separate incident of illness?

TheGlossy

With all due respect, my medical history is none of your business.

I asked for advice on a particular administrative process which does not require me to disclose the illness on here.

There is absolutely no point for your to try and draw my medical history.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118857718#Comment_118857718

With all due respect, I didn't ask you to disclose the nature of your illness, I asked if this was the same absence from work on sick leave that you posted about on the Work and Jobs forum.

I think its a fair enough question, when you're claiming here that you were so sick you couldn't make it out to a post office to post a cert.

I also don't see why you felt the need to start a second thread on the topic, when there is already an active thread on it (in fact I think that is against boards rules too). But seeing as you did, I'll repeat what I posted on the other thread.

There are literally up to 20,000 new cases of covid being reported every. single. day. And you're wondering why Illness Benefit section are very busy?!? Not to mention they are suffering with their own staff shortages due to covid, like most places of work at the moment.

Make your formal complaint.

But when doing so, be sure to clarify why you didn't send your cert in for three weeks. Let us know how you get on.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118857806#Comment_118857806

Are you the forum concierge trying to track what I posted on this thread vs another one? They are completely unrelated. Please, explain to me what benefit you are getting from this, I really would like to understand.

I almost forgot that every single time someone posts on this forum, the purpose of contributors is to attack the OP.

My question was more about the fact that the application suddenly disappeared from the portal and I therefore don't know whether it is still under review. If the application review has simply delayed because of the certificate issue, that's certainly fair enough and I completely acknowledge the delay. I admitted it myself, it took me 3 weeks to post it, no denying that.

The application simply disappeared into thin air from the portal, so I simply would like to know if it's been reviewed or discarded. That's all.

Now, if you want to play the game of trying to find contradictions in between threads because you have time to waste, please be my guest, but I have other things to do right now.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118858101#Comment_118858101

I'm not interested in playing games with you, or tracking anything. You've made yourself pretty visible, all by yourself across your multiple threads recently.

But here's a tip I'll give you for free. I've been a civil servant for 32 years and we don't generally react well to people who take the uppity tone you do. Especially when this delay was down to you.

I'll let my colleagues in DSP get back to you in due course.

Have a nice evening.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118858211#Comment_118858211

My tone is only a reflection of the one you used in your initial post. Impressive career record though - good for you.

Best,

TooTired123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118855750#Comment_118855750

I’m at a loss to know why your GP didn’t send it electronically as soon as he signed it? EDIT: Sorry please ignore on reading further through the thread I note that your GP doesn’t do electronic.

If you have no income or very little income or savings then you can see your local CWO for an SWA

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118858517#Comment_118858517

OP is actually in FT employment and lost out on 2 weeks illness benefit , issue is how claim was handled or not apparently 😏

TooTired123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118858722#Comment_118858722

Sorry Dempo I didn’t read the whole thing fully. Personally I would submit the whole claim including the cert again and a note explaining what happened, and forget about a complaint altogether as there’s no grounds for complaint. One way or another the claim couldn’t go ahead without the cert. I don’t know where this idea of having 6 weeks grace in which to send the cert came from.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859004#Comment_118859004

I will try to do this again, hoping they won't discard it. The website specifically states the application has to be submitted within 6 weeks of becoming ill.

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/disability_and_illness/disability_benefit.html

The 6 weeks I mentioned was in relation to the application. If the application has to be made within 6 weeks, I think it's safe to assume the cert has to be submitted within that time frame but not necessarily on the same day you submit the application. I submitted my application electronically, so the forwarding of the certificate had to be subsequent to the electronic form anyways.

As a matter of fact, exactly 6 weeks after the start date of my incapacity, the application was removed from my portal on MyGovID.ie.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118858722#Comment_118858722

Money is money. I fully acknowledge some people may be in far more precarious circumstances. That being said, this is the type of stuff the PSRI deducted from my salary contributes to. Taking a financial hit, no matter how small, is not pleasant.

TooTired123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859107#Comment_118859107

No that’s just not correct. As far as they are concerned you made an online application for IB with no medical certification attached. You could have made the application at any time up to 6 weeks when you got the cert.

You could have sent them a message then or at any time explaining that you were too unwell to collect the cert from your GP. But you didn’t so after a few weeks there was still no medical certification and the application was scrapped. You can’t half fill an application for anything and expect it to stay live and pending indefinitely.

Why on earth would you think they would “discard” your complete application?? It’s a very very busy office. You honestly think they have time for that?

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859107#Comment_118859107

Just to be clear and as I've tried to explain, the 6 weeks rule is nothing to do with the error here, once you submit the claim it must be accompanied by the cert at point of application, the 6 weeks does not mean you submit claim and then have 6 weeks to submit a cert.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859139#Comment_118859139

Your being silly now, I was merely pointed out to a fellow poster and I might add very helpful and experienced @TooTired123 the problem and sequence of events , I was not judging wether your in employment or not.

Your really not helping your case with this petulant attitude. The department does not exist, solely to cater to your whims or needs 🙄

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859004#Comment_118859004

Not a problem at all 😉 but unfortunately as you've now discovered the OP is not getting they were wrong, did not understand the process and even when advice offered over a number of separate threads, clearly doesn't want to take any advice.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058239476/illness-benefit-has-the-application-been-discarded

I'm in a similar position.

I was out with covid in early January, I applied and filled out all requested fields.Bizarrely I then received a letter saying I needed to produce a doctors cert.I work in healtcare and all my colleagues have been out with covid,nobody was asked for a cert (just screenshot of pcr text fron hse) and other details to fill out online.

I tried to ring and also got the classic line " as call volume is high we're unable to answer you call" There's zero call volume if no calls are going through.This message is still there 3 and a half months later.Ive emailed about 10 times too and they simply won't respond. It's very frustrating and I'm down an amount of cash I can't afford to be down.

My employer says its between me and department.

If anybody knows what I should do in this situation I'd love to get some ideas.

Edit,after a quick read of the thread I realise I might be in the wrong thread but not sure so I'll leave post up.My own case was in relation to the covid illness benefit .

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859434#Comment_118859434

Morning, you might be mixing up Enhanced illness benefit and illness Benifit, two very different things and different rules apply. Initial application for EIB just required confirmation of advice to self isolate and screen shot of same sufficed. EIB required a cert at a later stage originally and a further one if EIB needed to be extended (Rules updated a number of times since its introduction)

Standard illness BENEFIT (Thread Topic) requires a Cert at point of application, there is no discretion.

Just in relation to your EIB claim the only advice I can offer is to gather all the information, dates, screen shot and cert and attach to an email with explanation of situation and send to the dedicated email address. It will be looked at, but will take time to review, they will have a record of your claim.

TooTired123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859434#Comment_118859434

Did you ask your GP to forward them the cert? If you do get through to Illness Benefit this is what they will ask you to do.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859413#Comment_118859413

Maybe I misread the poster's post, but it sounded to me like the person was saying it wasn't a big deal that I missed out on this particular payment when I have a full-time job (with the winky face).

I acknowledged the advice given and as I said in my last post yesterday, I will re-submit and see what happens.

Very difficult to operate on this forum sometimes if everything you say is regarded as being "condescending" when it's simply a response to a poster. There is no condescension here. It's ironic that contributors are allowed to have an attitude, but the OP needs to just be silent.

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859409#Comment_118859409

I understand. I was simply responding to the other poster who said they don't know where the 6 weeks I was talking about came from. I was trying to explain my initial reasoning.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859684#Comment_118859684

Fair enough 👌

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859465#Comment_118859465

Thank you for that very detailed response,it seems I may have applied for the wrong one.

I'll follow your advice and email again with an explanation etc.Im not confident of a reply though as I have tried to contact them many times and have been ignored. Although the mistake was on my part it would be very obvious to them what had happened yet they didn't respond.

Thanks again for the info,really helpful and appreciated.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859899#Comment_118859899

Honestly, I think if you just follow up with the email you might get a resolution albeit I do appreciate there was delays and confusion around the whole EIB , they will have a record of application so fingers crossed they'll review .Good luck 👍😏

HildaOgdenx

I know it's late saying it now, OP but your employer should not have made deductions until such time that you advised them of receiving a payment.

Also I hope that they allowed for the fact that no social welfare payment is made for the first three days, if I remember correctly.

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118860158#Comment_118860158

You are correct re the 3 days (waiting) but I don't believe an employer obligated to wait for anything , employers sick leave policy is an entirely separate matter I would have thought 🤔 (open to correction of course).

Also worth mentioning, albeit not relevant to the topic , if a person is transitioning from a jobseekers payment to illness payment, generally the waiting day requirements are waived.

Just so there's no added confusion, there's NO waiting days for Enhanced illness benefit (separate issue) but as it's been mentioned 😏

TheGlossy

I submitted another application and will be sending the certificate again this afternoon (via registered post this time), but it still says "no application / claims" on the portal. Last time I submitted, it immediately showed the application as "under review".

We'll see what happens.

As far as the employer making the deductions, their policy states they only pay for the first 3 days. While I understand the onus is on the employee to apply for illness benefits, I agree that the employer should only deduct the amount if the employee has indeed been paid illness benefits. Then again, I think it would be difficult for them to track potential double-payments and it would cause more hassle for them than anything else.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118859899#Comment_118859899

You're not being ignored. There have been over 250,000 Enhanced Illness Benefit applications since the start of 2022, the sheer volume of that you can imagine the amount of correspondence. To put that in perspective it's essentially the amount of applications that would be normally received by the section in a single year. It's only April tomorrow. The sheer volume of claims means that yes, correspondence is delayed and yes in some cases claim payments are being delayed (particularly where there is another social welfare payment in place). There aren't enough hours in the day to deal with the volume of claims presently.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118860702#Comment_118860702

Just to double-check before you do send it TheGlossy - you are submitting the Certificate of Incapacity from Work (Med1) yes? Honestly a lot of the issues come down to the wrong certification being submitted.

The Certificate of Incapacity from Work is a one page document, purple in colour with a portion at the top where you put in your own details (PPSN, name, DOB, signature) and the GP completes the bottom half with the dates of the incapacity from work.

There are so many white certs (standard cert that you hand into your employer) being submitted and they're not accepted for the purpose of IB - it's Certificate of Incapacity from Work OR the GP sends in the eCertificate (which I understand is not available from your own GP).

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863011#Comment_118863011

You might want to read the post before you jump in with both feet there chief.As mentioned they did reply by letter.

A more knowledgeable poster has already pointed me in the right direction.

Any opinion on why they have a trolling voice message saying "due to the high volume of calls we are not taking calls"?

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863250#Comment_118863250

Probably because the volume of calls are ridiculously high? 9am sharp is the best bet to get through in my experience or later in the day but realistically it's down to pure luck in getting through at the moment. I'm quite happy to help if you shoot an email to illnessbenefit@welfare.ie with your details for the attention of Necro (not giving my real name on the forum for obvious reasons).

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863300#Comment_118863300

I didn't realise you work in this area and know what you're talking about.This is a frustrating situation hence a bit of snarkiness on my end.

Thanks for you offer,that's very generous of you.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863378#Comment_118863378

No issue at all, totally understand the frustration. Fire it through to me and I'll take a look in the morning for you.

Dempo1

Special thanks to @Necro who has been exceptionally helpful in the advice offered generally and also for being generous with the time afforded.

It can be frustrating and I know we at times can react to comments without thinking ( I'm guilty on occasion), I'm absolutely no expert but have had to do a lot of reading and research and of course always open to correction when I've made an error. I learned a lot during the Pandemic (PUP) and spent almost two years offering advice based on my experience and support when I could through PM's. It's been a difficult time for many and I always try to put myself in others position.

I've absolutely no doubt the Department has been under horrendous pressure and of course customers and the department can make mistakes but not deliberately.

I do find with a little patience and understanding we all eventually get the advice and answers we seek 😊

On this high note

Good night 😉

TheGlossy

-

TheGlossy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863034#Comment_118863034

Thank you so much!!

I have not sent it yet. I indeed sent the white certificate the first time around thinking it was sufficient. I also check with the secretary after my appointment and she did not mention it was a different certificate that needed to be submitted. I will go back to the GP to ask for this form then.

I certainly very much appreciate the DSP is saturated, but I would have certainly appreciated them sending me a letter to advise the white certificate is not acceptable because right now it just looks as though the IB application has been discarded.

I'm hoping they will not discard my application a second time around on the basis of the 6 weeks limit given it's the second time I'm submitting it (albeit the first time was very clearly a mess!!).

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863862#Comment_118863862

See the problem with this is that very often there's no PPSN included with the white certificate when it's sent in so it doesn't get linked to any file. They then have to be manually checked and sorted to see if they can be inputted. Especially when you're just sending the certificate and no application alongside it.

Most of the time those certs will end up being disposed of as they only contain your name and no other identifiers.

For example there could be sixteen Michael Rooneys dotted all over the country with no proper way of identifying which Michael Rooney the cert is for. So because of data protection regulations the best practice is to dispose of it as you could be sending it back to the wrong Michael Rooney which would be a data breach.

All of the above is why there is a specific certificate for Illness Benefit so it can be linked to you directly, scanned to your file and there's a record of that if you ever require it in the future.

TooTired123

I remember ringing carers allowance section 1 summers day and after hanging on for about 1/2 hour a lady answered and told me that there were 5 people working in the whole section that day. 5 people to answer the phones and process the applications and all the other queries.

The idea that low grade civil servants are sitting at desks drinking coffee scrolling Facebook and ignoring the phone is just lazy now and a bit stupid to be honest.

TheGlossy

I never said civil servants are sitting there drinking coffee and doing nothing. I completely understand it might be tough. I didn't realize they were that understaffed to be honest.

@Necro : Thank you, it makes sense. However, when I sent in the white certificate, I added my PPSN at the very top on purpose because I knew that's the identifier they use to link it to the application.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118863560#Comment_118863560

Thanks again Necro,

I've sent on an email there,please feel free to DM me or get me by email anytime.

Folks,whether this is resolved or not this has shown me that boards is still a nice place when you stay away from the nonsense threads.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118865051#Comment_118865051

Just to update this @Necro has sorted this.....unbelievable! The positive power of Boards.

The mistake was on my end by the way.

Really so delighted and can only say thank you very much, it means a lot.