Services and information
Departments and publications
About gov.ie
Injury Benefit is a weekly payment made to you if you are unfit for work due to:
To qualify, you must be unfit for work for more than three days (excluding Sundays or paid holiday leave).
When the accident happened, or the occupational disease was contracted, you must have been employed under any of the contracts of service or apprenticeships that are insurable at social insurance (PRSI) classes A, D, J or M.
However, even if you are unfit for work for three days or less you can still register a claim as evidence that an occupational accident occurred. This safeguards your future rights to benefit under the Occupational Injuries Benefit Scheme because an illness or disablement can develop at a later date.
| Weekly rate | - | |
| Personal rate | €220.00 | - |
| Increase for a qualified adult | €146.00 | - |
| Increase for a qualified child | Under 12 | Over 12 |
| Full-rate | €42.00 | €50.00 |
| Half-rate | €21.00 | €25.00 |
Qualified adult means that your spouse’s or partner’s income is below a certain level and you receive an increase in your payment for them.
To avail of an Increase for a Qualified Child your child must:
Depending on your circumstances, some or all of your Injury Benefit payment may be liable to income tax. Tax is not charged on increases paid for any dependent children.
The department pays Injury Benefit without deducting tax. The department does, however, notify Revenue of the taxable amount of Injury Benefit to be taken into account for income tax purposes. This means you do not have to do anything for the correct tax to be paid.
Information about the taxation of social welfare payments is available from Revenue and on the Jobs and Pensions page of the Revenue website www.revenue.ie.
Social insurance (PRSI) and USC are not charged on Illness Benefit payments
You cannot undertake a training or educational course or do voluntary work without prior, written approval from the Department of Social Protection. You must apply to the Injury Benefit section for this approval.
You should apply for Injury Benefit within 6 weeks of becoming ill, otherwise you may lose this benefit. Claims for Injury Benefit are normally made on form IB1 (application form for Illness Benefit and Injury Benefit) and accompanying ‘Certificate of Incapacity for Work’ which you get can from your doctor.
A ‘Certificate of Incapacity for Work’ can be provided in paper form (purple coloured certificate) or, in some practices, this can be completed and submitted online by the doctor. Where the doctor has completed an ‘Online Certificate of Incapacity for Work’, the doctor will provide the customer with a receipt for your own/employer’s records.
Your last 'Certificate of Incapacity for Work’ should be marked as final by your doctor before you go back to work. If it is not, you should notify the department by email at ClosemyIBclaim@welfare.ie or using the phone numbers at the bottom of this page.
The claim form and ‘Certificate of Incapacity for Work’ (if ‘Online Certificate of Incapacity for Work’ has not been submitted by a doctor) should be submitted to:
Operational guidelines describe the processes and procedures that staff in the department follow when carrying out their work.