Invalidity Pension

M

Mothergoose

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I am just about to have the first of three surgeries for arthritis in my feet. Another orthopaedic consultant says I have severe arthritis also in both knees and need knee replacement surgery after my foot surgeries. It looks like I am going to be off for at least two/three years for recovery from all surgeries. The Consultant is not sure that he can do one of my knees due to severe scaring from childhood accident. I will be on illness benefit for two years - have the required PRSI contributions - I am 60. Just wondered if I will be able to transfer to inavalidity pension afterwards - I need to be able to walk, bend, lift, climb stairs etc for my main job. I have a sideline self-employed online job for 6 hours per week, but the income from this fluctuates and is non-existant really at certain times of the year. How easy would it be to transfer to invalidity benefit after two years of illness benefit - I will be 62 at that stage - if I am not able to go back to my main job? Can I still continue with small amount of self-employed work - online - no need to commute etc so mobility not an issue whilst getting illness benefit based on the PRSI contributions from my main employment? S Class, I hope your seeming vast knowledge of State benefits might be helpful here. Thanks!
 
It's not really just a transfer I think, you will have to apply for the invalidity and go through the process including the docs reports etc, most apparently are refused first time and you must appeal. I dealt with a family one but it's a good few years ago now and the advice I got from Cit Info at the time was ask for an appeal in person as it's much easier deal with and convince a person in front of you instead of someone just reading your reports and sure enough appeal was allowed no problem. Mind you person was unable to work.

I'd ask all those questions in Citizens Info, you can ring them if there is no walk in office nearby.
 
I know, Clubman, that it's difficult to give any advice about this so far in advance, but \i am a little concerned what happens if I am still off with various orthopaedic surgeries in two years time, and it seems quite likely that I will be.

Monbretia, that's really interesting re your relative getting invalidity pension when she appealed and went in person. I didn't know that CIT offices provided such information on invalidity pension - I will look up my local one and ask them what happens when someone is on long term illness benefit but is unable to return to work.
 
Cit Info offices know everything there is to know about how the social welfare system works. I did volunteer work there for a couple of years, learnt so much about so many things!
 
Approval for invalidity pension can take up to 6 months. If the invalidity is genuine, there's rarely an issue and the approval is much quicker.

Because its a long term benefit they do take extra precautions before approval and will want documentation from GP and consultant.

You cannot be earning whilst on it, but there is a partial capacity benefit where you can be working part-time, but your online endeavors sound more like a hobby.

They will ask if there are other tasks you can do in your employment and may request a letter in that regard. But they'll also be mindful of your age and accept that retraining into another career is not really an option at 62, so unlikely to be an issue - but I would be applying 3-4 months ahead of the illness benefit ending.
 
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