CHANGE MADE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4800, 21 June 1939, Page 5

CHANGE MADE

SICKNESS BENEFITS. BACK-DATING APPLICATIONS. RETROSPECTIVE PAYMENTS. Regulations governing the applications for and the payment of sickness benefits under the Social Security Act have been amended, the Commission having decided that applications for benefits may be back-dated, and also that payments will be retrospective. It was stated by an officer of the Social Security Department that the regulations had been altered because there had been considerable misconception among the public as to the nature of sickness benefits.

Applications may now be back-dated to the date on which the illness or incapacity commences, provided there is medical evidence to support the date and nature of the illness. Week Still Elapses. Benefit payments will be made to approved applicants from a week after the date of the commencement of illness as stated on the medical report, the regulation stating that a person must be reported sick for a full week before becoming entitled to social security benefits still beingenforced.

The reason for the approval of back-dating is said to be that many people were not making application for benefits until they returned to work, and as a result legitimate claimants were losing benefits. Back-dating-will overcome that, providing the applicant has secured a medical certificate. Sickness payments will now be dated from seven days after the date of the medical certificate, even if the application is made after a person’s return to work.