Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022
41. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons that have benefited from the reduction in the number of waiting days for illness benefit claims since the changes were made to the scheme. [14839/22]
View answerIllness Benefit is not paid for the first 3 days of an illness. Up to March 2021, there was no payment for the first 6 days. The “waiting days” reduced to 3 from 01 March 2021. There are no waiting days where a customer is getting certain other social welfare payments within 3 days of the start of the claim.
154,274 customers benefitted from the reduction in waiting days in the period since 1 March 2021. These claims were put into payment from the 4th day of illness, resulting in the customer receiving payment for a period for which they would have previously been ineligible.
I trust this clarifies the position for the Deputy.
