In March 2020 the Government introduced a number of emergency measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) was an income support measure operated by this Department. The scheme was open to employees and self-employed people who lost their job due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme closed to new applicants on 22 January 2022.
People on PUP (and jobseeker’s payments in lieu of PUP or employees benefiting from the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme) continued to have Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions attributed to them under the PRSI class they were paying before the period of unemployment. These contributions are considered paid contributions. This measure was put in place to avoid any gaps in people’s social insurance contribution history that would impact their entitlement to benefits in the future.
Illness Benefit is the main income support provided by this Department to those who cannot work due to illness of any kind. Illness Benefit is payable to people under pensionable age who have the required number of social insurance contributions and who satisfy specific contribution conditions in the governing contribution year. The relevant tax year is the second last complete tax year: for example, for a claim in 2022 the relevant tax year is 2020. The person must also submit a completed Illness Benefit application form and their doctor must submit a certificate of incapacity for work or a certificate of ongoing incapacity for work.
Contributions paid under classes A, E, H and P are reckonable for Illness Benefit. People who were making PRSI contributions under these classes before going on PUP continued to have these attributed to them and therefore their eligibility for Illness Benefit will only depend on whether they have the required number of contributions and whether they satisfy the age condition.
People who did not qualify for Illness Benefit before going on PUP (contributors in PRSI classes other than A, E, H or P) continued to have these contributions attributed to them while on PUP. These contributions however do not count towards Illness Benefit.
The person is welcome to submit a query with the Department’s Illness Benefit section who will be able to look into their contributions records and determine eligibility or address specific issues.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
