Civil Sercie Sick pay exhausted & illness benefit

scullersky

A friend of mine works in the Civil Service. His illness benefit was always paid directly to his employer. Due to genuine medical reasons, he has exhausted his sick pay entitlements. However, his illness benefit is still paid directly to his employer so his essentially getting €0.

Surely this can't be right?

I would have thought that he should be entitled to the illness benefit payment now at least?

Any advice / thoughts welcome

336699

Originally, your friend would have mandated that his illness benefit be paid to his employer as they were paying him. Now, that he is no longer being paid from work he needs to let the illness benefit section know and request that the illness benefit be paid directly to him.

Contact details -

Email:

illnessbenefit@welfare.ie

Phone number:

01 7043300

0818 928400

michael031987

As the poster above has already said, your friend would have mandated that his illness benefit be paid to his employer as they were paying him. However as your friend is employed in the civil service they should be entitled to apply for TRR (Temporary Rehabilitation Remuneration)and this is paid when they are on long term sick leave and can be paid for up to 18 months after their sick leave entitlements have exhausted. If your friend is in receipt of TRR then the illness benefit payment must still be paid through the employer. It would be advisable that your friend contacts their local hr team

Mrs OBumble

As above ... but contact the union for advice before contacting HR.

scullersky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120913098#Comment_120913098

Thanks for the advice. I will pass it all on. If he applied and gets granted for TRR, would he still be entitled to his illness benefit payment form his employer? I looked at TRR online and as he hasn't much service it wouldn't be anywhere near the amount of illness benefit.

michael031987

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120914203#Comment_120914203

Yes, they should still be entitled to the illnesses benefits from the employer so they should be receiving their illness benefit payment plus the TRR payment each paydate.

apache

Something here I'm really worried about. I have exhausted my sick pay and am on TRR. There was a period of time after my sick pay ended and before TRR came through where I was getting nothing, not even illness benefit. I changed my bank details. As a result I am getting TRR every 2 weeks and illness benefit paid to me weekly.

I now know I have done something wrong. I probably owe back about €1000. I went into welfare.ie yesterday and changed back the bank details to my employer. There was 2 options in the drop down menus for work bank accounts. I hope I picked the right one. I didn't get paid illness benefit today. The account details must have already been changed yesterday.

I'm struggling with the decision to contact pay roll and tell the truth. But part of me thinks I might get away with it. It has me very stressed. What do people think I should do?

apkmbarry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121026511#Comment_121026511

If you're stressed, surely the best option is letting payroll know and coming up with a manageable repayment schedule?

scullersky

Delete

scullersky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121026511#Comment_121026511

Now I'm no expert but previously I was in a similar sitiation sue to brain surgery, this was a few years back (2021). I was told by my employer that I was entitled to TRR and illness benefit that time, so I changed the bank account details to my own. I recieved both payments and never heard anymore.

apache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121027423#Comment_121027423

Interesting.

I wonder how they link the social welfare payment to you? Like how do they know if it is going in to the account? How can it be traced?

scullersky

As I said above, I was told by my civil service employer while on TRR to change my illness benefit to be paid directly to myself.

apache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121028036#Comment_121028036

If that was true I'd be able to afford my mortgage! I changed back the bank details to my employer again so I didn't get illness benefit Friday morning. I will miss it.

Illness benefit gets paid directly to your employer and then they pay you a TRR rate. That's the way it works. What I have been doing is wrong.

Can anyone confirm if this is correct?

apache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120914592#Comment_120914592

I don't think this is true. If that were true I could afford my mortgage and live off the illness benefit every week.

scullersky

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121030340#Comment_121030340

The person above is correct.

I have had a look online for you..

It is hard to find information on this. However if you go onto www.kildarestreet.com and in the search box type: TRR illness benefit

This brings up lots of parliamentary questions in the Dáil which include TRR and illness benefit questions and answers.

The following was a recent response from Michael McGrath to a parliamentary question:

"The rate of payment of TRR is determined based on pensionable service. Public servants who pay Class A PRSI may also receive Illness Benefit from the Department of Social Protection in addition to TRR."

As mentioned above, I previously had brain surgery and my employer told me I was entitled to both, which I recieved and there was never an issue afterwards.

I know how tough it is being off with ill heath from my experience, hence the reason I am trying to give you advice which I hope helps.

apache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121031804#Comment_121031804

Well scullersky if what you say is true that is amazing. I had a look at that website and I can't find anything on being allowed claim TRR and illness benefit. I'm nearly tempted to switch bank accounts again but I'm sceptical for good reason.

It's very hard to find anything online about it. I was going to ring a staff support officer and explain the situation but I didn't want to draw attention to it.

Maybe I'll get in touch with social welfare.