Sick­ness per diem all­owance

Sickness per diem allowance is provided for unpaid leave from work, equivalent to 80% of basic payments earned over the past 4 months before the inability to work, with a maximum limit of ISK 713,000 for up to 4 months.

The sickness per diem allowance is disbursed in addition to the sickness per diem allowance from the Icelandic Health Insurance. The total taxable income must not exceed the income lost due to illness or accident. Sickness benefits cannot exceed the cancelled unemployment benefits. All taxable payments from other sources, such as the State Social Administration (TR) or occupational pension funds, that exceed 20% of the basis for receipts during the last 4 months are fully subtracted from the fund's daily allowances.

Eligibility for the sickness per diem allowance is determined based on the number of premium fees paid to the fund over the last 4 months. Therefore, an applicant who has paid premium fees for 3 months is eligible for the sickness per diem allowance for 3 months. Sickness per diem allowance is retroactively paid for a maximum of 3 months from the application date.

Self-employed fund members are entitled to receive sickness per diem allowance as if they were salaried workers. Self-employed members have a waiting period of 2 months for benefit rights.

Members can reapply for the sickness per diem allowance after 6 months of paying premium fees following the end of the previous allowance period. Each fund member can receive a maximum of two sickness per diem allowance periods within a 10-year timeframe.

Additional grounds for allowances

In addition to a Fund member's own sickness or accidents, the following grants are available for sickness per diem allowance during unpaid leave from work due to:

• Illness of a Fund member's child, for a period of up to 3 months.
• Illness of a Fund member’s spouse, resulting in absence from work for up to 2 months. No payment is made for the first 10 days of illness.
• Illness and/or accident experienced by a Fund member during maternity/paternity leave: If a parent becomes unable to care for their child due to an illness and/or an accident that occurs during maternity/paternity leave, the Fund will cover up to 6 weeks. No payment is made for the initial 10 days of illness. This is contingent on the parent not receiving payments from the Maternity/Paternity Leave Fund.

Fund members who receive a rehabilitation pension from TR maintain their eligibility for grants other than sickness per diem allowance.

Fund members' rights in other BHM Funds during sickness per diem allowance period

BHM Vocational Training Fund: Fund members maintain their full rights.

Career Development Centre: Fund members maintain their full rights.

BHM Vacation Fund: Fund members who had full rights in the Vacation Fund before sickness per diem payments started maintain their full rights during the sickness per diem allowance period.

Applications

To apply for these benefits, you can use the online platform "My BHM" (Mínar Síður). Within this platform, you'll find information regarding the required documentation to be included with your application. This streamlined process ensures that you have all the necessary information and documents when submitting your request for various benefits.