Finance Office

The Payroll Section applies the regulations regarding the taxing of Illness Benefits (Formerly known as Disability Benefit) as follows:

Staff paying PRSI at Class A may be entitled to payments from the Department of Social Protection. We are obliged firstly to deduct these benefits from your pay while on full pay from the University and also to tax and deduct Pension Related Deduction on these benefits. We must always assume that the benefit is received unless notified to the contrary by the Dept of Social Protection. It is therefore vital that you apply for Illness Benefit at the beginning of your illness and the detail of the benefit received is confirmed to the Payroll Section. You must apply for it within seven days of the start of your illness. If you do not claim for the Benefit within the correct time, you may lose out on a day's payment for each day that you delay. For example, if you become ill on 1 March, but you apply for Illness Benefit on 10th March, you may lose out on three days' payment because you have applied after 7th March.

It should also be noted that when completing your claim for Illness Benefit that you request the cheque to be made payable to yourself and NOT the University or payment to be made directly into your OWN bank account.

Unless the Department of Social Protection instructs the Payroll Section that you are not entitled to Illness Benefit the following method will apply:

• For the first three days of any one illness there is no entitlement to sick pay from the Department of Social Protection and therefore there is no change in pay.
• Thereafter while you remain on full pay from the University, the Illness Benefit is deducted from your pay and also taxed by the payroll section. The method used to do this is to add the Illness Benefit to your other pay and the combined sum taxed, but PRSI is not deducted from the Illness benefit portion.
• Once you go on to half pay or less from the University, the payroll section no longer deduct the value of the Illness Benefit from your pay, but it does have to continue to tax this benefit. Again the method used to do this is to add the Illness Benefit to your other pay and the combined sum is taxed but PRSI is not deducted from the Illness Benefit portion.
• If you do remain out long enough to go on to no pay from the University. The payroll section is obliged to tax any Illness Benefit that you receive from the first date at no pay until your return to work.
• If you find yourself in the position of having to claim Illness Benefit you can contact the payroll section to have the above explained in detail based on your personal tax position.

Last Updated Jan 2013