Illness Benefit Question

MiyakoCat

Hello,
Can somebody please tell me when you are supposed to get your first Illness Benefit payment?
I am/was on JSA but I am too ill to work so I was advised to go on illness benefit until my health issues can improve.
I went to my doctor last week for the MC1 cert and handed it in last Tuesday to my local social welfare department. I got my first MC2 cert this week and handed it in on Tuesday. I have not received any letter of confirmation and I have not received any payment in my bank account. I didn't go to the post office yet as I assumed there would be no money there as I am now claiming Illness Benefit.
Does anyone else have experience like this? How long is the wait after handing in MC1 and then an MC2? Will I get a confirmation letter?
I suffer very badly from anxiety and the whole thing is very stressful for me. Any help is very much appreciated.

haveringchick

MiyakoCat wrote: »

Hello,
Can somebody please tell me when you are supposed to get your first Illness Benefit payment?
I am/was on JSA but I am too ill to work so I was advised to go on illness benefit until my health issues can improve.
I went to my doctor last week for the MC1 cert and handed it in last Tuesday to my local social welfare department. I got my first MC2 cert this week and handed it in on Tuesday. I have not received any letter of confirmation and I have not received any payment in my bank account. I didn't go to the post office yet as I assumed there would be no money there as I am now claiming Illness Benefit.
Does anyone else have experience like this? How long is the wait after handing in MC1 and then an MC2? Will I get a confirmation letter?
I suffer very badly from anxiety and the whole thing is very stressful for me. Any help is very much appreciated.

If you are on JSA then I can presume you have no current entitlement to JSB this you have no entitlement to Illness Benefit
Keep sending in the Certs but you'll have to go and see the CWO for a SWA while your sick
I'm very sorry as this doesn't help your anxiety
It should actually be straightforward enough

MiyakoCat

haveringchick wrote: »

If you are on JSA then I can presume you have no current entitlement to JSB this you have no entitlement to Illness Benefit
Keep sending in the Certs but you'll have to go and see the CWO for a SWA while your sick
I'm very sorry as this doesn't help your anxiety
It should actually be straightforward enough

Oh I didn't know that people on Jobseekers Allowance weren't entitled to Illness Benefit. I thought it was a matter of stopping JSA and then going on IB for a time. I will ring the social welfare tomorrow and ask about applying for the SWA. I'm very anxious now that I've done the wrong thing by handing in the MC1 and then the MC2 and worried I will get in trouble somehow but I am anxious about everything so hopefully that's not the case...
Thank you for responding to me and for your help!

haveringchick

MiyakoCat wrote: »

Oh I didn't know that people on Jobseekers Allowance weren't entitled to Illness Benefit. I thought it was a matter of stopping JSA and then going on IB for a time. I will ring the social welfare tomorrow and ask about applying for the SWA. I'm very anxious now that I've done the wrong thing by handing in the MC1 and then the MC2 and worried I will get in trouble somehow but I am anxious about everything so hopefully that's not the case...
Thank you for responding to me and for your help!

No no you've not done the wrong thing at all
You happen to have done exactly the right thing
You just need to find your local CWO to apply for the SWA
Please don't worry. Good luck

eastbono

Just to clarify if you are long term unemployed on JA and have no means assessed against your JA and have credited contributions then you are entitled to Illness Benefit. You should go to the post office as you JA more thank likely will remain in payment until such time as your illness benefit is set up and illness benefit will contact your office to let them know you have made an illness benefit claim.

MiyakoCat

Thank you very much for the advice and the reassurance. I rang my local social welfare last friday, they said that my claim had been awarded but I was not entitled to payment because I didn't have enough PRSI contributions. I was told to continue handing in my MC2 certs and apply for the SWA.

Now today I have received a letter from Dublin saying I am not entitled to IB at all as I don't have the relevant PRSI contributions and if I send in MC2 certs they will be sent back to me. It says in the letter that I may be entitled to SWA. I don't have any money from JSA anymore, there was nothing there for me. So I need to go to my CWO tomorrow. I am very anxious now. Will I need to bring anything with me tomorrow? Should I hand in certs to my CWO? I have several health issues and I'm beside myself with worry. Any advice would be very much appreciated thank you.

haveringchick

please try not to worry too much.
Bring the certs with you to the CWO plus a bank/credit union PO account statement to show your savings (or lack of!) and evidence of any other income you and your spouse/partner have.
It should be fine.
As I said, your not entitled to any Illness benefit, but of course the state wont leave you high and dry. Itll be fine.

MiyakoCat

Ok I will bring my cert for this week and my bank statement etc. Thank you again very much for the quick reply and advice.

Markshock

How did this work out in the end? In a similar position

MiyakoCat

For as long as I am ill (I don't no how long that will be..) I have to hand in my certs to the CWO every Monday an then I should be able to collect on Thursday. It's been fine so far but I have not received Christmas bonus.
I think I had to be in receipt of SWA for 15 months or longer to get that but before getting SWA I was on JSA for a long period. If I had still been on JSA I would have received the Christmas bonus so it's a bit upsetting now. I was trying to do the right thing by telling them I was ill because I'd be lying every time I signed on.
I hope it works out for you.

Markshock

Hey, it seems to me after research over acouple of days that honesty is not best in regards social welfare. I handed in all my documents today, how long until I should hear back? Whats the xmas bonus?

LegacyUser

Hi just enquiring I'm on illness benifit I didn't get xmas bonus last yr cause wasn't on it long enough will I get xmas bonus this yr. I broke my knee still not right. I'm outta work 18 months or more.

dee40

Chris 216 wrote: »

Hi just enquiring I'm on illness benifit I didn't get xmas bonus last yr cause wasn't on it long enough will I get xmas bonus this yr. I broke my knee still not right. I'm outta work 18 months or more.

Hi , my circumstances the same , contacted social welfare who said no as it's not considered long term payment !

LegacyUser

Just a quick question when I sent in my final cert for inness benefit do I get 1 final payment