It has been revealed that 35% of workers in receipt of a disability payment from the Department of Social Protection as a result of being unable to return to work due to long Covid, have been receiving a payment for over sic months, according to Denis Naughten TD.
Since the Government first introduced specific payments for private sector employees who contracted Covid -19 – Enhanced Illness Benefit – there have been 4,203 workers who were unfit to return to work three months after their initial infection, which meets the World Health Organisation criteria for long Covid.
Of these 4,203 workers, over a third – or 1,475 individuals – are still medically certified as being unfit to return to work at least six months after their initial infection with the SARS-CoV-2, according to data compiled by the Department of Social Protection for Denis Naughten TD.
“This is the only official data available in Ireland on long Covid and is the very first longitudinal data on the of the impact of long Covid on our workforce,” said Denis Naughten TD.
“What these figures show is that approximately 0.3% of all workers infected with SARS-CoV-2 were still out of work six months after contracting the virus due to a medically certified illness. It is important to note that these figures are only for those who never made a recovery after their initial infection and do not include people who made a full recovery and had a subsequent relapse with long Covid symptoms.”
In a recent poll commissioned by Denis Naughten TD, 6% of adults in Ireland have self-reported symptoms of long Covid in excess of 12 weeks, with a further 3% of adults self-reporting the onset of symptoms for less than 12 weeks.
Denis Naughten recently called for long Covid to be recognised as an occupational hazard for frontline workers and urged the Government to treat patients presenting with ongoing symptoms with the same urgency as the initial wave of infections.
“While Government has yet to provide any figures on the incidence of long Covid, there is no doubt that these figures from the Department of Social Protection are indicative of a significant challenge that we are facing, not just within our health service, in managing and treating the impacts associated with this condition, but also long Covid is having a far broader impact on our workforce and has the potential to undermine productivity rates,” said Denis Naughten.
“The figures I have obtained from the Department of Social Protection are indicative of a much higher rate of long Covid in the community, with many people ineligible for such a welfare payment or back in work but with the illness impacting on their productivity and daily lives.
“Not only is this having a significant impact on our labour force but, as an Australian long Covid study put it, even low rates of Covid-related permanent illness or disability could still lead to significant future burden of disease,” concluded Denis Naughten.
ENDS.
Written answers
Thursday, 15 December 2022
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Covid-19 Pandemic Supports
Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
- To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of claims submitted and the number of persons who have received enhanced illness benefit for Covid-19; the number of persons who were in payment for ten weeks; the number of persons who transferred to illness benefit after the ten-week payment period had expired; the number of these claims that were in payment for more than two weeks, four weeks, eight weeks, 12 weeks or in excess of 12 weeks, respectively; the number that were transferred to disabilityallowance; the number of such claims that were rejected or pending; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62919/22]
Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Enhanced Illness Benefit (EIB) was a form of Illness Benefit that is payable to self-employed persons or an employee who is told to self-isolate or has been diagnosed with Covid-19. The enhanced rate of Illness Benefit came to an end on Friday 30 September 2022.
It is important to note that a person may have received Enhanced Illness Benefit on more than one occasion since the payment was introduced, and thus have more than one claim for Enhanced illness Benefit. EIB was payable for up to 10 weeks where a person was diagnosed with Covid-19. In a case where a person continues to be ill beyond 10 weeks, standard Illness Benefit may be paid for an extended period, based on the person’s continued eligibility.
Based on claim certification dates, there were 7,756 EIB claims with a duration of 10 weeks or more. Of the claims with a total certification period of 10 or more weeks, these relate to 5,855 individuals of whom 4,203 transferred to Illness Benefit payments, and were certified for 2 or more weeks. The duration of these illness benefit claims are set out in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Duration of Illness Benefit claims for those who transferred from EIB
| Weeks | Claims |
| 2-4 | 983 |
| 4-8 | 1,180 |
| 8-12 | 565 |
| 12+ | 1,475 |
119 individuals who had at least one EIB claim of more than 10 weeks duration are now in receipt of Disability Allowance. A total of 97 people had a Disability Allowance claim rejected, while 48 people had Disability Allowance claims pending as of end-November 2022.
The Enhanced rate of Illness Benefit (EIB) scheme closed on 30 September 2022 and the eligibility criteria for Illness Benefit applies to all claims regardless of the illness type.
For Written Answer on : 15/09/2022
Question Number(s): 252 Question Reference(s): 45310/22
Department: Social Protection
Asked by: Denis Naughten T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of claims submitted and the number of persons who have received enhanced illness benefit for COVID-19; the number of persons who were in payment for two, four, six, eight and ten weeks, respectively; the number of persons who transferred to illness benefit after the ten-week payment period had expired; the number of these claims that were in payment for more than two weeks; the number that were transferred to disability allowance after the ten-week payment period had expired; the number of these claims that were in payment for more than two weeks; the number of such claims that were rejected or pending; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
REPLY
Enhanced Illness Benefit (EIB) is a form of Illness Benefit that is payable to self-employed persons or an employee who is told to self-isolate or has been diagnosed with COVID-19. It is important to note that a person may have received Enhanced Illness Benefit on more than one occasion since the payment was introduced, and thus have more than one claim for Enhanced illness Benefit. The number of claims received and the individuals claiming EIB up to 11th September 2022 are provided in Table 1.
Table 1: Number of EIB Claims and EIB Recipients
| Claims | Individual Recipients |
| 702,128 | 513,448 |
EIB is payable for up to 10 weeks where a person is diagnosed with COVID-19. In a case where a person continues to be ill beyond 10 weeks, standard Illness Benefit may be paid for an extended period, based on the person’s continued eligibility. Details on the duration of EIB claims are set out in Table 2. The data in Table 2 refers to the claim duration, based on the certification dates.
Table 2: EIB claim durations
| Weeks | Claims |
| 0-2 | 587,326 |
| 2-4 | 81,638 |
| 4-6 | 16,151 |
| 6-8 | 6,307 |
| 8-10 | 3,289 |
| 10+ | 7,417 |
Of the 7,417 claims with a total certification period of 10 or more weeks, these relate to 5,637 individuals of whom 4,056 transferred to Illness Benefit payments, and were certified for 2 or more weeks. 98 persons who had at least one EIB claim of more than 10 weeks duration are now in receipt of Disability Allowance. A total of 73 people had a Disability Allowance claim rejected, while 27 people had Disability Allowance claims pending as of end-August 2022.