# illness benefit stopped



## deirdre222

my illness benefit was stopped after i went for a  social welfare medical exam. I am still sick with depression so I sent in an appeal form to the chiel appeals officer and my doctor says i am still unfit for work,what happens now ?


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## asdfg

you will be called in to see a new doctor appointed by social welfare and they will decide if your entitled


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## Cat101

You did the right thing by appealing it.
As mentioned above your doctor won't be consulted it will be the decission of the SW appointed doctor.
You should still be able to claim while your appeal is pending.


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## lorelai

Cat101 said:


> You did the right thing by appealing it.
> As mentioned above your doctor won't be consulted it will be the decission of the SW appointed doctor.
> You should still be able to claim while your appeal is pending.


 
Following assessment as you know you will have received a letter stating the date your IB will stop. Most likely about a week after you receive the letter!

You are entitled to apply for Jobseekers in the interim if you do decide to appeal. Only thing is there's such a backlog that your appeal will have come and gone before you get anything, so the only other thing to do is go to see your CWO.

I know it doesn't make any sense that your own doctor says you're unfit to work but the SW doctor says you are. Frustrating is not the word for it. My own doctor has told me that the SW appeal office blatantly ignores anything he could possibly say to them and he is extremely frustrated with the process too.

There are a lot more knowledgable people on here than me so I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction.

I'm appealing my own IB decision at the moment and would be really interested to hear how you get on with yours. Please feel free to PM me, even if it's only to moan and groan about things!


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## Cat101

Why was I quoted in the above post?

This is a link to the Social welfare appeals office, with lots of info.
http://www.socialwelfareappeals.ie/index.html

Hope you both find it useful.
& Good luck with your appeals!


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## GreenQueen

FWIW you should consider requesting a referral to a consultant from your gp.  They should then be able to write a qualified explanation of your symptoms and how long it will take you to recover.  Unfortunately I have found that SW take a consultant's opinion more seriously than that of your gp (in relation to a different illness but relevant just the same imho).


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## lorelai

Cat101, the only reason I quoted you was just to point out that yes you may still "claim" while awaiting your appeal but it won't be IB you receive, it'll be Jobseekers, and with the way things are at the moment with the SW offices the appeal will have come and gone before any kind of payment is received. Sorry if there was any confusion there.

In my case I went for assessment one day, received the letter the very next day (they can get stuff out in the post quick enough when they want to) to say IB was being stopped that week, went to the local SW office and have still not heard anything back. So I can't work due to illness, yet they have stopped my IB payment, can't manage to get any kind of financial assistance in the mean time and the appeal still hasn't happened.

Anyway good luck to anyone else in this situation. You're going to need it!


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## minni

Hi Everyone,  I have been on IB for 3 1/2 years, I went for my second medical exam last week and received a letter this morning to say it is stopped from today.  I went to local SW office but I can only apply for JA because I have no credits from 2007.  How would I have when I was sick.  Does an appeal normally take long?


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## Omega

How long usually elaspes after the initial IB claim until the first social welfare medical exam.?


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## GreenQueen

Omega it depends on the nature & severity of your condition.


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## DirectDevil

It is always worthwhile in cases like this to make an application for copies of the data used and created by the medical referees department and the deciding officer. You should get to see a copy of the actual report prepared by the doctor who examined you.

 You are entitled to do this under the Freedom of Information Acts. It costs you nothing. You apply to the freedom of information section of the department.


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## annet

Would posters find it particularly helpful if information on Illness Benefit/DA and the Medical review and assessment process be posted online? 

For those whose claims have been disallowed by the DSFA doctors, would anybody like guidance via a posting on how to put in a SW appeal?


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## gm88

AFAIK when you are appealing the decision, you still send in certs and your own GP will have no problem with this as he says you are still unfit for work.  The payment will be dropped to jobseekers (drop of approx €40 per week) whilst waiting for this to be sorted out.

Also, I believe you are entitled to two appeals before they cut you off completely.  And if they re-instate the illness benefit, you will receive the back-money due.


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## Black Sheep

I don't understand how a drop of E40 occurs when moving from Illnes benefit to Jobseekers as they are both paid at the *same* rate


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## mosii

hi, a bit naive here maybe , how do sociel welfare know what you got in the bank,i have a few bob in rabobank a deutch owned bank,do they go off dirt or what?thanks


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## gm88

Sorry blacks sheep, I'm not sure of the names of those payment, Jobseekers or Unemployment, etc.   This happened to a friend of mine and she told me that she was deducted €40 per week and dropped to the unemployed schemes rather than sick scheme while the appeal was taking place.  I'm only going by what her experience was.


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## bridan90

I have just been for a medical exam today, an extremely stressful and very unpleasant experience.  I have been claiming illness benefit since 2003 and have several chronic conditions.  I was examined back in 2006 as I had requested that I be able to work part time.  I was refused on the grounds that I was unfit to work.  While waiting for my examination today I spoke to someone who said that they too had applied to do a course and were told that they were unfit.  About six months later they were called back for another examination and on that occasion their benefit was disallowed.  

I have also heard that it is standard procedure for them to disallow benefit and that they always force people into appeal.  I know I had to appeal the first time I applied.  Does anyone know if this is true?


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## DirectDevil

Out of interest, how did you get on ?


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## bridan90

I was informed today by telephone that my illness benefit has been disallowed. I had applied to the FOI for the documents pertaining to my previous reviews and this included the most recent one. From comparing them it seems that I have more things wrong with me now than I did at my last review! I had applied back then for an exemption to do a FAS CE scheme and was refused on the grounds that I was unfit for work. 

This time round the doctor's review states that I am capable of the very work I was denied previously even though I have been diagnosed by a consultant with yet another illness and there has been no significant change in my other conditions. This does not make any sense to me. I intend to appeal this decision and I would advise anyone in a similar situation to do the same. In particular apply for your previous medical reports as it seems they are riddled with inconsistencies! 

The doctor's writing is also pretty illegible most of it just scribbles and it seems to me that the deciding officers don't even bother to read the reports and merely look for the tick in the eligibility box. 
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/report.php?p=63819147


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