Income Support

Three conditions determine your entitlement to the income support benefit.
You must meet all three conditions and if you have a spouse, he must also meet all the conditions: continuity of residency, means test and employment test.

Income support
Full benefit paid to a person who is not capable of earning income from work, such as those who are ill, disabled, unemployed or have been hurt in a work accident, and are not entitled to payments under other programs.

Income supplement
Partial benefit paid to a person whose income from work or from another source is lower than the minimum income required for subsistence (supplementation of low wages, unemployment benefits, alimony, etc.).

The following are not eligible for benefits:
        A person residing in an institution whose entire maintenance is paid by the State, the Jewish Agency, a local authority or a religious institution;
         A person serving compulsory military service in the IDF, and his spouse;
        A member of a kibbutz or cooperative moshav;
        A student attending an institution of higher education, an institution of post-secondary studies, a yeshiva or a Torah institute and an institution for training religious clerics (except for students attending an institution that provides vocational training, who have been referred by the Employment Service).

Below are the situations in which eligibility can be checked for someone who is living apart from a spouse, to establish eligibility for income support benefits:

A vehicle owned or utilized by the insured person precludes entitlement to benefits, except for the following:
        His legs are disabled or he is medically unable to work;
         He, or a member of his family, requires the vehicle for the purpose of medical treatment;
         He has a disabled child;
         He possesses a motorcycle.
         He is working and receives low wages, and meets all the following conditions:
1.  His income from work exceeds 25% of the average salary, NIS 2,155 (as of 01.01.2012) , and if he has reached retirement age - his income from work exceeds 17% of the average salary, NIS 1,465 (as of 01.01.2012) .
2. The vehicle has an engine volume of up to 1300 cc and at least 7 years have elapsed from the end of the model year (e.g., the 2002 model year to January 2010) or the vehicle has an engine volume of up to 1600 cc, and at least 12 years have elapsed since the end of the model year (e.g., the 1997 model year to January 2010).
3.  He does not possess any other vehicle.

 A prisoner doing public service work
 A released prisoner
 A prisoner under house arrest
 The mother of a child under two years of age
 A single parent father of a child under two years of age, who is in his custody
 A person who has reached ^20^ 
 A pregnant woman from the 13th week of her pregnancy
 A person who is too sick to work more than 30 consecutive days.
 A person caring for a sick family member
 An abandoned child or an orphaned child
 A person undergoing vocational rehabilitation
 A person learning in an ulpan
 A person learning in an ulpan under the auspices of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption - morning studies, 5 days a week
 A person who has been recognized as an alcoholic by the Center for the Treatment of Alcoholics, under the supervision of the Ministry of Labor
 A drug addict
 A homeless person
 A person in dire straits due to a tragedy or unexpected occurrence
 The mother of a disabled child
 A person sent for vocational training during the daytime by the Employment Service

A widow/widower, divorced person or single person who has custody of a child/children (as defined in “General Definitions”)living with him and he does not live with a common-law spouse.

A child both of whose parents abandoned him/her in Israel, or a child one of whose parents abandoned him/her and the other parent has passed away or does not live with him/her and does not support him/her or lives abroad permanently, or is of unknown identity.

A child both of whose parents have passed away, or a child one of whose parents have passed away and the other lives abroad permanently or is missing or is of unknown identity.

You must submit the claim on the Income Support Claim form, at the National Insurance Institute branch closest to your place of residence.
You must bring the following documents:

        Your identity card;
        The authorizations listed in the conditions of  entitlement;
       Your bank account number and authorization from the bank or a voided check showing that you are the holder of the account in which you want to receive the benefit;
        Bank statements from your account for the past three months - see means test.

If you are found to be eligible for a monthly benefit, it will be paid to you for the period of time prescribed by law for you or your spouse (whichever is the shorter), from the month in which the claim is submitted, at the earliest.

A recipient of an income support benefit or a recipient of an old-age pension with income supplement who goes abroad after January 2003, is not entitled to receive income support benefit for the period that he is abroad, subject to the following:

If you are receiving an income support benefit and you are not working, minimum health insurance contributions of NIS 100.00 (as of 01.01.2012) are deducted from your benefit each month.

You must notify the National Insurance Institute of any change that my affect your entitlement to the benefit or the manner in which the benefit is paid, within 30 days from the date of the change (a change in your income or in the income of your spouse, a change in your family status, a change of address, etc.).

Upon the death of a person who receives an income support benefit from the National Insurance Institute, a lump-sum grant is paid to the person who was his spouse at the time of his death. If there is no spouse, the grant is paid to the child of the benefit recipient, provided that the child meets the definition of a child under the National Insurance Law. The death grant is usually paid automatically and there is no need to submit a claim.

The son or daughter of an insured person (including foster child, adopted child and grandchild supported entirely by the insured person, except for a married child) who meets one of the following conditions: *up to age 18; *if completing his studies at a post-elementary educational institution or studying in a framework to complete matriculation exams, or having a learning disability and studying in a framework recognized by the NII– up to age 20; *if in a pre-army IDF framework – up to age 20;* if a volunteer in a framework of public service for up to 12 months and his army service is deferred due to this volunteering – up to age 21; *if serving compulsory service in the IDF – up to age 24; *if serving in the voluntary National Service – up to age 24;*if studying in an "atuda" framework and deferring army service due to studies – up to age 24.

You are entitled to submit a claim for an income support benefit each time you find yourself in one of the situations that entitles you to the benefit, even if you have received the benefit in the past.

The benefit is paid for 2 months at most, to a released prisoner who was in prison or in detention for at least 6 months and who has no income. The payment is for each month separately, from the day that the claim for income support benefit is submitted.

You may be entitled to the benefit even after 2 months, if you still haven’t begun working, or if you are working for low wages. In such cases, please contact the local Employment Service Bureau; in order to be entitled to the income support benefit, you must be willing to accept any job offered to you that is suitable to your health and physical condition. 

The benefit is paid to the person who submitted the request for benefit on the claim form. In some cases, however, the NII may appoint a person to receive the benefit on behalf of the person entitled.

In addition, in cases in which both spouses are entitled to a benefit , the NII may decide on splitting the benefit as well as on the manner of splitting it between the spouses.