Illness Benefit

Rules

You must apply for Illness Benefit within 7 days of becoming ill. No payment is made for the first 6 days of illness which are known as waiting days. (Note that Sunday is not counted as a waiting day.) The only time that the 6 waiting days are not applied is if you were getting certain other social welfare payments within 3 days of the start of your illness.

Whether you qualify for payment or not, you should always submit a claim for Illness Benefit when you are certified unfit for work. You may be entitled to PRSI credited contributions for each week you are ill and these could help you qualify for future social welfare payments.

Social insurance (PRSI) contributions

To qualify for payment of Illness Benefit you must satisfy the following two conditions:

1. You must have at least 104 weeks of PRSI contributions paid since you first started work

   and either

2. 39 weeks of PRSI contributions paid or credited in the relevant tax year, of which 13 must be paid contributions. If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, then 13 paid contributions in one of the following tax years can be used instead:
   • Either of the two tax years before the relevant tax year
   • The last complete tax year (before the year in which your claim for Illness Benefit begins)
   • The current tax year

   or

   26 weeks of PRSI contributions paid in the relevant tax year, and 26 weeks of PRSI contributions paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

The relevant tax year is the second-last complete tax year before the year in which your claim for Illness Benefit begins. For example:

• Only PRSI contributions paid at class A, E, H and P count towards Illness Benefit.
• If you were getting long-term Jobseeker's Allowance, Pre-Retirement Allowance, Invalidity Pension, Carer's Allowance or Carer's Benefit immediately before applying for Illness Benefit, you do not need to have 13 paid contributions.
• If you were getting Occupational Injury Benefit (OIB) immediately before applying for Illness Benefit you may use the tax year that applied to your OIB claim or the tax year that applies to your Illness Benefit claim, whichever is more beneficial.

To help you qualify for Illness Benefit, you may combine your Irish PRSI contributions with social insurance contributions from a country covered by EU Regulations (and the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are covered under a bilateral agreement).

How long is Illness Benefit paid?

Illness Benefit is paid for a maximum of:

• 2 years (624 payment days) if you have at least 260 weeks of reckonable social insurance contributions* paid since you first started work

  or

• 1 year (312 payment days) if you have between 104 and 259 weeks of reckonable social insurance contributions* paid since you first started work

*Reckonable social insurance contributions paid in Ireland, EU countries, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man can be combined for this purpose.

Before your payment is due to stop, you will be contacted by the DEASP telling you when payment will stop and giving you further information on options available:

• If you are ill, likely to be permanently incapable of work and satisfy the PRSI conditions, you may qualify for Invalidity Pension
• If you do not qualify for Invalidity Pension and you have a disability that is expected to last for a year or more, you may qualify for a means-tested Disability Allowance
• If you do not qualify for any other payments and your income is too low to meet your needs, you may qualify for a basic Supplementary Welfare Allowance
• If your Illness Benefit is ending because you are turning 66, you may be eligible for a State Pension. You should apply 3 months before your 66th birthday.

If you return to work, you must have a minimum of 13 reckonable PRSI contributions paid before you may requalify for Illness Benefit. (All other qualifying conditions must also be satisfied.)

If you were on Illness Benefit for 1 year only, you may requalify with fewer than 13 contributions, if additional contributions bring your total PRSI contributions paid up to 260. (So, for example, if you had 250 contributions when your Illness Benefit expired, you could work and pay 10 contributions to requalify.)

Transfer from Carer's Benefit or Carer’s Allowance

If you transfer from Illness Benefit to Carer's Benefit or Carer's Allowance and then back to Illness Benefit, your Illness Benefit will not be paid at a lower rate than that you were paid previously.

Work and Illness Benefit

You cannot work while you are getting Illness Benefit (you can do voluntary work in some cases). If you have a current Illness Benefit claim and have been getting Illness Benefit for at least 6 months, you can apply for Partial Capacity Benefit (PCB). The PCB scheme allows you to return to work (if you have a reduced capacity to work) and continue to receive a social welfare payment. A Medical Assessor (who is a doctor employed by the DEASP) will assess the restriction on your capacity for work, and the personal rate of PCB paid is based on this assessment. You cannot take up work until you have written approval to do so from the Department.

You cannot undertake a training or educational course or do voluntary work without prior, written approval from the DEASP. You must apply to the Illness Benefit section for this approval. Since 1 January 2014, new participants on SOLAS training courses can retain Illness Benefit but they cannot get a training allowance or training bonus at the same time.

Illness Benefit and other social welfare payments