illness benefit to what payment?

1997

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Hi,posting for a friend whos husband has been on illness benefit for year and half,shes been told after a recent review that it will expire in 6mths. Husband had massive heart attack and many complications after and although he feels hes ready for work his gp,consultant,ot and phychologist feel he needs more time. He suffers from bad fatique and depression since aswell. Shes not sure what payment to apply for as in Invalidity or Disability as shes not sure quite when hel get the go ahead for work. They have 2 young kids and mortgage and have used all their savings paying the mortgage till now on illness benefit and shes afraid shel end up with no payment in 6mths? Any advice welcomed as neither have claimed welfare before and hes worked same job for 25yrs. Thks
 
Hi,posting for a friend whos husband has been on illness benefit for year and half,shes been told after a recent review that it will expire in 6mths. Husband had massive heart attack and many complications after and although he feels hes ready for work his gp,consultant,ot and phychologist feel he needs more time. He suffers from bad fatique and depression since aswell. Shes not sure what payment to apply for as in Invalidity or Disability as shes not sure quite when hel get the go ahead for work. They have 2 young kids and mortgage and have used all their savings paying the mortgage till now on illness benefit and shes afraid shel end up with no payment in 6mths? Any advice welcomed as neither have claimed welfare before and hes worked same job for 25yrs. Thks

Now is the right time to apply for invalidity benefit. It takes a couple of months and medical examination by SW doctor before application is processed. You can get the application at local SW office.While the application form is fairly straight forward I would advise that back up information from medical team should be submitted to back up the claim. Give comprehensive information to back up claim.
Often invalidity benefit can be refused and one has to appeal the decision. dont be put off by a refusal. The more info forwarded with application the better.Get going now.
One more thing invalidity is what to go for.

D
 
Thanks for the speedy reply dcd,on Invalidity is the payment the same or do you recieve help for mortgage or anything? She just submitted a tonne of paperwork to the illness benefit review,will she need to copy all these and send them with the application or can they just use the ones already gone to illness benefit,sry for the questions its just shes not aware of the procedure,she only just got medical card after over a year! Thks
 
Invalidity Pension as it is called is very hard to get and is really intended for anyone that may never be capable of working again.

If your husband intends to return to work but not just yet, then Disability Allowance (which is means tested) is the more appropriate claim to make at this stage, if he can satisfy the means test) and if later he feel he can no longer work again, then Invalidity Pension is the way to go. Both are very hard to get and several appeals maybe be required.

For DA anything over 50k in savings is regarded as means. Invalidity Pension is not means tested as its based on prsi contributions.

IP is about €9 euro more than DA which is €188 if entitled to the full personal rate.

There is no help offered with Mortgage payments under these schemes, the only help is Household Benefits Package, if entitled to it.
 
on Invalidity is the payment the same or do you recieve help for mortgage or anything? She just submitted a tonne of paperwork to the illness benefit review,will she need to copy all these and send them with the application or can they just use the ones already gone to illness benefit

Mortgage Interest Supplement which would have helped pay some of the mortgage interest ended on 1st January 2014 for new applicants.

Illness Benefit and Invalidity Pension are separate sections, so photocopy all relevant stuff already sent to IB and send where relevant to IP.

IP is really for people who are PERMANENTLY incapable of work, ie will never realistically work again.

Disability Allowance is more tailored towards people who can't work at the moment even after 2 years on IB. I received DA for a time after IB expiry.

I suggest that friend's husband applies for both IP and DA independently. Either way, she/he is in for a few months of waiting/querying.
 
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