Illness Benefit Rules

I have a question and hoping someone here can help. My apologise for the essay in advance:

I had been on Illness Benefit until Oct 2011 when I was told I no longer qualified having been on the benefit for 2 years. I had indeed originally applied in approx April 2009 having suffered from acute depression since July 2008 with the department backdating Illness Benefit to Oct 2008. I was on JSA from April 2009 until I relapsed back into depression in July 2009 (making a claim in Oct 2009 and hence 2 year IB eligibility period).

I recently applied to JSA/JB and while this was granted (and I hope to be starting an internship in the coming weeks finally!!!) - SW stated the period from Oct 2011 - April 2012 could not be backdated as I was not medically fit for work despite having no other means of support. I have used any savings I had saved (which were to be used to pay the remainder of a University course fee I had done as rehabilitation) to support myself during this period and duly I have an outstanding University debt of several thousand Euro (Not being accredited until this is paid).

My friend has said since I received Illness Benefit backdated on and off since 2008, I should qualify under the old SW guidelines in which there was no 2 year maximum on illness Benefit claims - while I would have had over 260 PRSI contributions. I was wondering would anyone have any info? Would my claim be viewed from the date SW were willing to backdate payment to in 2008, or date I applied in early 2009? (Having applied as soon as I was mentally fit enough too, with changes made in Jan 2009 to maximum Illness Benefit period). Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

It is the start date of your most recent Illness Benefit (IB) claim that determines whether you fall into the 2 year rule or not.

You closed your IB claim in April 2009 and it is the gap between April and October 2009 that means you come under the new rules.

Had you remained on IB and not broken your 2008 claim you could have continued to claim once you met the criteria.

The letter advising you of the benefit expiry should have mentioned that you could apply for Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA), which is a means-tested payment. Depending on your means, you may have qualified for SWA as a weekly income until you were well enough to sign on again.

Thank you for your reply gigimann. I was hoping since I relapsed into depression within a certain period (I believe I transferred onto JSA from IB in Feb or April 2009 before relapsing back into depression in July 2009) which was less then a 6 month period or there about. Duly I believed that my illness benefit would have been reinstated rather then a new claim in terms of eligibility and rules.

I was suffering from severe depression and duly rarely left my home which is the reasoning I never applied for Supplementary Allowance, using savings I had to support myself instead of paying course fees which I had saved them for. I really dont want to 'milk the system' beyond my illness knowing I have already received a lot off the state in the past few years (using a proportion of anything I had received for my course which was initially €13,000 - not drinking, smoking, holidays etc). But I am uncertain how I will pay my outstanding course fees without help now (No credit rating etc). Thank you again for the reply.