Illness Benefit

Rules

You must apply for Illness Benefit within 7 days of becoming ill. No payment is made for the first 3 days of illness.

Social insurance (PRSI) contributions

To get Illness Benefit you must have:

• At least 104 weeks PRSI (at classes A,E,H or P) paid since you first started work

And

• Have 39 weeks PRSI paid or credited in the relevant tax year (a minimum of 13 weeks must be paid contributions*)

Or

• Have 26 weeks PRSI paid in the relevant tax year and 26 weeks PRSI paid in the tax year immediately before the relevant tax year.

*If you do not have 13 paid contributions in the relevant tax year, you can use the following years to meet this condition:

• The 2 tax years before the relevant tax year
• The last complete tax year

• The current tax year

The relevant tax year is the second last complete tax year before the year in which your claim is made. So, for claims made in 2013, the relevant tax year is 2011. If you were getting long-term Jobseeker’s Allowance (15 months), 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 are getting reduced rate JA or have fewer than 260 PRSI contributions your Illness Benefit payment may be reduced.

You may combine your Irish PRSI contributions with social insurance contributions from a country covered by EU Regulations to qualify for Illness Benefit.

How long is Illness Benefit paid?

If you have 260 weeks PRSI paid since you first started work you can claim Illness Benefit for a maximum of 2 years (624 payment days).

If you have between 104 and 259 weeks PRSI contributions paid, you can claim Illness Benefit for up to 52 weeks (312 payment days).

When you finish your Illness Benefit claim you can requalify for Illness Benefit by paying an extra 13 PRSI contributions (or a lesser number if it brings your total PRSI contributions paid up to 260). Before January 2009 people with 260 weeks PRSI paid since they first began work, were entitled to Illness Benefit for as long as they were unfit for work and under 66.

When your entitlement to an Illness Benefit payment ends you may be eligible for other payments:

• 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 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.

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

Since 13 February 2012, Partial Capacity Benefit replaces the previous arrangements (known as an exemption) where people on Illness Benefit could get permission to work part-time for rehabilitative or therapeutic purposes and keep their full social welfare payment.

People who currently have an exemption will not be affected until their permission comes up for review. At that stage, the exemption will no longer be available to them but they have the option of applying for Partial Capacity Benefit. While you are on Partial Capacity Benefit there is no requirement that the work you do has to be for rehabilitative or therapeutic purposes.

Illness Benefit and other social welfare payments