Organization : Social Insurance Board
Service Name : Social Benefits For Disabled Persons
Country: Estonia
Website : https://sotsiaalkindlustusamet.ee/et
Social Benefits For Disabled Persons :
Social benefits for disabled persons shall be granted and paid to permanent residents of Estonia or persons residing in Estonia on the basis of a temporary residence permit with moderate, severe or profound disabilities which cause additional expense.
Related : Social Insurance Board Applying For Maintenance Allowance Estonia : www.statusin.org/11261.html
There are several classes of social benefits for disabled persons and they are calculated on the basis of the rate of social benefits. The rate of social benefits in 2014 is 25,57 € .
Allowance for disabled person in working life is paid monthly to a person with disability from 16 years of age to pensionable age for the compensation of additional costs caused by the disability not less than 65% of the social benefit rate for the person with moderate disability (16,62 € in 2014) and not more than 210% of the social benefit rate for the person with profound disability (53,70 € in 2014).
Allowance for disabled person in pensionable age is paid monthly to a person with moderate, severe or profound disability in pensionable age for the compensation of additional costs caused by the disability and for the activities in the rehabilitation plan, if it exists:
** 50% of the social benefit rate for the person with moderate disability (12,79 € in 2014);
** 105% of the social benefit rate for the person with severe disability (26,85 € in 2014);
** 160% of the social benefit rate for the person with profound disability (40,91 € in 2014).
Disabled child allowance shall be paid monthly to a child under 16 years of age for the additional expenses caused by the disability and, upon existence of a rehabilitation plan, for the activities prescribed therein in an amount equal to:
** 270 % of the social benefit rate to a child with a moderate disability (69,04 € in 2014);
** 315 % of the social benefit rate to a child with a severe or profound disability (80,55 € in 2014).
Disabled parent’s allowance shall be paid monthly to the following persons who are raising a child of up to 16 years of age (or a child up to 19 years of age who goes to basic school, high school or vocational school):
** disabled single parent;
** one of two disabled spouses;
** disabled step-parent;
** disabled guardian who is raising a child alone;
** disabled person who is raising a child alone and with whom a written foster care contract has been entered into pursuant to the Social Welfare Act.
The amount of disabled parent’s allowance is 75 % of the social benefit rate (19,18 € in 2014).
Education allowance shall be paid monthly (except in July and August) to a non-working disabled student who attends upper secondary school in classes 10 to 12 or who attends a vocational school or institution or an institution of higher education, and who has additional expenses in relation to his or her studies as a result of the disability. Education allowance shall be paid according to the actual additional expenses of the person but in an amount of not less than 25% or not more than 100% of the social benefit rate (6,39-25,57 € in 2014).
Employment allowance is paid to a disabled working person of 16 years of age or older who has work-related additional costs due to the disability.
Employment allowance is paid to compensate partly for the actual expenses made by the disabled person in relation to working with the disability in the social benefits rate of up to 10 times during three calendar years from the time of firstly granting the benefit. If the additional costs made in three calendar years are smaller than the maximum sum, the sums actually paid by the disabled person for goods or services will be paid back as benefits.
The expenses compensated with allowance must be made during employment. The expenses made before the beginning and after the end of employment shall not be compensated for with benefits. Allowance is paid according to presented documentation on expenses for the expenses made during the calendar year. Allowance is paid for the expenses of the previous calendar year, if the application for receiving the allowance has been submitted by March 31 of the current year.
Rehabilitation allowance shall be paid for the active rehabilitation of disabled persons of 16 to 65 years of age in rehabilitation institutions. The rehabilitation allowance shall be paid to compensate partially for actual rehabilitation expenditure in an amount of up to 200 % of the social benefit rate during a calendar year (up to 51,14 € in 2014).
In-service training allowance shall be paid for vocational training and formal education acquired by a working disabled person within the adult education system. In-service training allowance shall be paid to compensate partially for actual training expenditure in an amount of up to 24 times the social benefit rate during three calendar years as of the first grant of the allowance.
A recipient of social benefits is obliged to inform the local pension office within 10 days in a written form of all circumstances that bring about the cessation, suspension or change in the amount of the awarded benefit.
The pension office should be definitely informed of the following circumstances:
** the recipient of education allowance finishes his or her studies and/or goes to work;
** the recipient of allowance spends continuously more than two months in hospitalization (excluding the recipient of disabled child allowance);
** the recipient of allowance is kept in custodial institution;
** the person who is granted caregiver’s allowance lives in an social welfare instituion or stays in hospitalization;
** in other cases when changes take place in the life of the recipient of allowance, which might influence the amount of allowance or cause the granting of allowance to end.
In case of any doubts if the information might be significant in relation to receiving the allowance, it is always reasonable to consult the local pension office.
In case of not informing of the circumstances or not informing in time there will be payments of not due, i.e. excessive paid social benefits – this means that a person has been paid the benefits, but later it appears that the person had no right to receive the benefits in this period.
The excessively paid sums must be recovered to the pension office – it is done voluntarily, reclaimed or cleared, if the excessive payment is caused by presenting false information intentionally. If the person does not recover the incorrect payments of social benefits, the sums paid excessively to the person may be withheld from the monthly paid social benefits on the basis of the decision made by the pension office.
Section 3 in § 24 of social benefits for disabled people provides that if the payments of social benefits for disabled persons are finished before the full recovery of the excessively paid sums, a precept with a warning will be issued for the person to recover the excessively paid sums. If the precept remains unfulfilled by the time marked in the warning, the pension office has the right to demand compulsory execution of the precept as provided in the Code of Enforcement Procedure.
Also, it is important to know that after the death of the recipient of social benefits for disabled persons the incorrect payments of social benefits do not belong to the inheritance and the mentioned sums will be recovered by the bank or the person who has received the inheritance, if the local pension office requires.