Sickness benefit applications take 3 months

The Department of Social Security Services is being flooded with 4500 sickness benefit applications on a monthly basis and it is taking about three months to adjudicate a case.

Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou says sickness benefits are not prioritised based on the type of health condition of the applicant.

In a written response to Solidarity Movement MP Michalis Georgallas, the minister said the cases were being processed in the order in which they were received, adding that the department issues a monthly bulletin on their website that informs the public about their processing timelines at any given time.

Emilianidou said in case an applicant files a request for expending his or her sickness benefit application, including requests from other agencies and organisations on behalf of individuals, then an effort is made to process the case ahead of others if there are specific circumstances.

It is was not immediately clear how many requests are received by Social Services asking to expedite a case or whether additional delays might be caused when such requests are denied.