legal advice - income protection / prsi / illness benefit

Stern

Hello,

I'm looking for some pointers in the right direction for some legal help to cover the below issues for a friend:

Income Protection - benefit received from this is not appropriate. Should be 2/3 of original salary but is only at about 1/3 right now.
PRSI - they've been on illness benefit until the 1 year ran out (not enough contributions for 2 years yet). They kept sending the sick certs but now after about 3 years they got a letter saying don't bother, we won't even get the prsi contribution anymore. Now what we're looking to find out is, if they get the income protection sorted and back paid for the last 3 years, and the prsi goes off it, what position are they in to go to Dep. of Social Welfare and show that their PRSI is now higher and can illness benefit be backpaid / reinstated?

For the above problems I'm not necessarily looking for advice here directly (welcome it would be though), but rather advice on what kind of lawyer or legal counsel to approach with this as it covers a few areas and to be honest my friend is struggling as it is. They live in the Blanchardstown/Castleknock area.

Thanks for any help!

_Brian

I can't see a solicitor wanting to touch stuff like this, who is going to pay them, a person who has been on sick leave for three years ??
Income protection is notoriously hard to get paid out.

Has it been reduced to 1/3 due to the length of time of the claim ?? They don't pay indefinitely.

livedadream

start with citizens advice then FLAC

http://centres.citizensinformation.ie/


http://www.flac.ie/

Stern

Thank you for the help so far!

@livedadream: Thanks for the links. They're not necessary looking for free legal aid, but it might still be worth a shot. For someone with a disability that affects them both mentally and physically, having somebody they can just rely on to sort out all of the paperwork and explain/drive the legal situation would be a lifesaver.

I will definitely ask them to explore that, but aside from this, where would they turn to figure out what private lawyer/legal counsel they could hire?

livedadream

Stern wrote: »

where would they turn to figure out what private lawyer/legal counsel they could hire?

i always find asking around for this sort of thing the best, i feel like most solicitors work on word of mouth, maybe ask some friends if they know anyone.

2RockMountain

Stern wrote: »

Thank you for the help so far!

@livedadream: Thanks for the links. They're not necessary looking for free legal aid, but it might still be worth a shot. For someone with a disability that affects them both mentally and physically, having somebody they can just rely on to sort out all of the paperwork and explain/drive the legal situation would be a lifesaver.

I will definitely ask them to explore that, but aside from this, where would they turn to figure out what private lawyer/legal counsel they could hire?

These guys might be able to help, though I understand they may have waiting lists;

http://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/en/services/advocacy/

Stern

Thanks a lot for the help here guys. Reason I'm asking is because of the 2 people I know who've had dealings with a solicitor, both have not recommended them

I will of course try and see where I get with CI and FLAC, thanks again guys!