Illness 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.