Workers could claim €2,540 back in social welfare over handy scheme

IRISH workers could claim €2,540 in social welfare payments in handy scheme.

Thousands qualify for the Treatment Benefit Scheme but there is a catch and it depends on your age.

The Treatment Benefit Scheme will allow claimants to claim back money for certain medical procedures.

Types of treatment covered includes dental care, optical care, hearing aids and repairs and hair replacement products.

The hair replacement category will also cover non-surgical scalp products for those who have suffered hair loss due to cancer or some alopecia types.

You should qualify for this scheme if you are an insured workers, self-employed or a retired workers with the necessary PRSI contributions and dependant spouses, civil partners or cohabitants may also be entitled.

To qualify you will need to have paid some social insurance (PRSI) whether that be class A, E, P, H or S.

How much you need to have paid in PRSI depends on your age, so you might miss out if you don’t have the payments specified for your age group.

From age 29-65 is very straight forward in terms of qualifying and if you qualify between the age of 60-65 you keep the entitlement for life.

For those aged between 29 and 65 you must have 260 PRSI contributions.

You must also at least 39 paid or credited contributions in the governing contribution year.

If not you should have paid 26 contributions in the years two years and three years before you make the claim.

This would mean if you are claiming for 2022 you would need to have paid 26 contributions in 2020 and in 2019.

For those between 21 and 28 Gov.ie outline you must have “39 paid or credited contributions in the governing contribution year.

“Example: 2020 is the governing contribution year for claims made in 2022.”

You will also qualify in this age group if 26 paid contributions in each of the second and third last contribution years, meaning two years and three years before the claim.

For those below 21 you will qualify if you have paid at least 39 contributions at one time.

For those aged 66 and upwards you will qualify for this benefit on similar circumstances to other age groups.

You must have 260 PRSI contributions paid at any time and 39 or those must be in the relevant tax year or the year immediately before it.

Otherwise you must have 260 social insurance (PRSI) contributions paid at any time and 26 paid contributions in both the relevant tax year and the year immediately before it.

If you qualify at all after you turn 66 you will keep the benefit for life.

How to claim

To claim you will need to have you PPS number and your date of birth as identifying information.

Claiming can be done through the medical provider that you are receiving your treatment with.

These would be a dentist, dispensing optician, optometrist, ophthalmologist, audiologist or hair replacement provider.

They will check if you qualify before the treatment and get your consent to access details and then they will go through the claim with you afterwards.

If you are claiming as a dependant spouse, civil partner or cohabitant you and your partner will need to complete a dependant spouse application form.

You will then need to send this to the Treatment Benefits section for approval.

If you received treatment in the EU or UK you will need to send receipts, a letter with your contact information and your bank details to receive the payment, directly to the Treatment Benefit section.

The address for this is Department of Social Protection, St Oliver Plunkett Road, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, F92 T449.

All other information can be found on the gov.ie website here.