Treasury has announced a temporary increase to the rate of Incapacity Benefit for the first 14 days of absence from work in order to improve support for persons unable to work due to isolation. The rate of short term Incapacity Benefit will increase from £86.55 per week to £230.00 per week for the first 14 days of absence to cover the period most people who test positive for COVID19 are required to isolate. This will be effective for all claims made in respect of a period of absence starting on or after Sunday 18th July.
Further support for businesses impacted by the recent rise in COVID-19 cases is also being actively considered and a further announcement will be made in due course.
Minister for Treasury, Hon. Alfred Cannan, MHK commented:
'We have been listening to concerns from individuals, businesses and representative groups in recent days about the increasing number of people having to isolate. The vast majority of workers having to isolate will be eligible for Incapacity Benefit for the period they are unable to work due to isolation. We recognise that the existing rate of Incapacity Benefit does not incentivise persons to take the right action and get tested if they show symptoms of COVID. We are therefore temporarily increasing the rate of Incapacity Benefit from £86.55 to £230 per week (= £32.86 per day) for the first 14 days of absence from work, after which it would revert to the existing rate.
'Persons for whom Incapacity Benefit is the only or main form of income for their household may also qualify for Income Support for them and their family, depending on their means and circumstances.'
Incapacity claim forms can be downloaded from the Social Security webpages at gov.im, or paper copies can be obtained by emailing incapacitybenefits@gov.im.
Queries should be emailed to the above address, or the team can be contacted on 685656, 685108 or 685109. However callers are asked to note that the Social Security division are currently experiencing a high volume of calls and ask for patience at this time.
The quickest way to get your query answered is to email incapacitybenefits@gov.im.
