Invalidity pension advice

Good Morning, I don't have the experience others have of this benifit but from what I've learned from others experience, whilst a daunting process the most important aspect of claiming any long term illness type payment is the support of your GP. Of course any additional history, specialist reports can only help in any application but I don't believe you need to be put off by the absence of this. Your GP will have full history, medications etc and not all patients referred on to a specialist.

You mentioned invalidity Pension and that is extremely difficult to get approval on, perhaps your GP has not considered Disibility Allowance? This I would think is the next step, rather than IP. It's a more long term payment and also requires a detailed application but my sense is this is probably the payment to consider and best applied for before illness benefit runs out.

Keep in mind DA and IP are means tested and can take time to be approved and also applications may be declined initially, but can be appealed were a dedicated case officer reviews the claim.

There's others on here that will offer more advice on their experiences but initially I'm thinking DA as a first step.

I wish you well🙂

Thank you, my mistake, I meant to separate DA and IP in terms of means testing 😏 but thank you for clarifying . Do you think the OP better option would be DA at this stage 🤔

I'm in receipt of this pension. In what seems to be an aberration for its award, I never actually applied for it. I was on IB, I had a medical review with SW, with a questionnaire and a similar request for info to my GP and I was transferred from IB to IP with zero further involvement or application on my part.

My advice to the OP would be to complete the application, submit it with any and all supporting info that you have to hand and in particular outline the impact and limitations that your illness imposes upon you. Keep copies of everything you submit.

The other thing to remember is that IP is a benefit based on contributions, so check and ensure you have entitlement too.

Very helpful, thank you, may I ask how long ago did you just move to IP , I only ask as I understood it required quite a detailed application

In 2019.

Wow, well that definitely quite recent , so OP sounds like you might have the answers you need.

Thanks again

I cannot remember having to agree to the change, it may have been included in the forms or the questionnaire I completed at the SW medical, but the changeover itself was notified by letter.

Regarding age, I was 37 when I went on IB and 39 when placed on IP. Illness is of course private, but the level of evidence required I can probably attest to, even though I didn't directly apply.

My ongoing certs when I was on IB, the reports from my GP that SW requested, their own SW medical review at which I provided details of Illnesses, treatments and treating specialists. Now I do not know if at any point SW contacted any of my treating specialists for any information, but I assume that they have.

May '21 would have been my 2yr anniversary on IB and I have had no further contact with the Dept regarding further medical info. I have dealt with them regarding a return to Uni, and they were quick to approve my request.

Look I hope the info is of some help and if I can offer anymore info, I'm happy to.

As I keep telling my slightly older Mrs, I'm still a toyboy 😉

There was a meeting with their Doctor. He reviewed my forms and my supplied history along with I'd assume any other info that the dept was forwarded. A nurse was also present for that interview. There was a cursory medical exam of BP, pulse and so on but the entirety of the meat of that review was questions on my medical history and impact of illness on my "day to day".

I think it was within 2 weeks of that review my payment was switched.

Brilliant info, and certainly clarifies my own transition. Thanks.

Don’t be so quick to rule out DA. DA is a long term payment. You’re principle private residence does not count as means for DA or for most social welfare payments. The limits for savings and wages either of yourself or spouse are really very generous. At least inform yourself of these and work out the figures for the means test yourself before you disregard it as an option.

Hi OP. My husband got approved for IP a couple of months ago. He is in his early 40ties. Overall they are only two forms you need to fill, one is to be completed by your GP and the other by the applicant. One if not the most important thing is to write a letter from yourself outlining how your illness impacts your day to day life and how your are unable to do ANY type of work as a result of your illness. I think my husband’s letter was about 3-4 A4 pages long. He still got turned down the first time and had to appeal but got it on appeal. Most people are turned down the first time so don’t let that discourage you.

As people mentioned above, IP is not means tested but you need a certain number of PRSI contributions. This is obviously good if you have a working partner any savings etc as none of it is taken into account.

My husband didn’t have to go through any additional medical examination and from what I heard most people don’t go through one. If you have any consultants reports include all this as well.

I know a few people that are on IP for years one is getting it for about 20 years and was never ever called by the department about anything throughout all this time. So it must be a pretty permanent payment unless you decide to go off it.

I find this new boards layout horrendous to be honest 😡

We anticipated a long wait so have actually applied maybe around 6 months if not more before his IB was due to run out. First application was send at the end of Dec 2020. Got turned down at the very beginning of Feb 2021. So around 4 weeks wait time there. Send an appeal immediately and was approved in March 2021. I don’t know if they had less applications due to the pandemic or what but overall the whole process took about 3 months. I have previously heard from people that it can take much longer then this.

Could anyone tell me if people who are on invalidity pension are also entitled to a medical card

Or is this means tested along with spouses income

Cheers, had a look but could not see a definitive answer.

Rang them up and the short answer is no.

It is still means assessed

Fair play for helping OP 😉