Perhaps, foolishly, many believe that they will be able to rely entirely on the State to claim benefit in the event of illness or injury. According to DSS figures, out of the 900,000 who apply for State incapacity benefit 400,000 were turned down as they had not contributed enough to qualify for the benefit in the last two years. For those who do qualify for incapacity benefit the basic payments are shown below. Entitlement to benefit is set out according to time periods and is based on the short term or long term rate. Can include a Hospital Benefit paid irrespective of income during hospitalisation in deferred period.
Premiums cease on receipt of benefit.