Disability Pensions and Benefits at National Insurance: the Overview by Life Stage
National Insurance offers people with disabilities seven different benefits, each with its own age, test and examining body. Disabled child up to 18, general disability and special services in working age, mobility from age 3 to retirement, work injury disability for those injured at work, and long-term care from retirement age. Choosing the right benefit, in the right order, is the first decision.
“The most expensive mistake is not a claim that was rejected. It is a valid claim filed on the wrong route.”
Adv. Yissachar Leibowitz · Head of the Social Security Department
The logic of the system: a benefit for each stage
National Insurance is perceived as one system, but it is built as a system of separate benefits, each intended for a stage of life and a kind of need. The logic is simple: in childhood the parents bear the cost of care; in working age the injury is to earning capacity; and at retirement age the need is for help at home.
Hence three groups: disabled child up to age 18; general disability, special services, mobility and work injury disability in working age; old-age pension and long-term care after retirement. Some benefits carry over from stage to stage, and some close with age.
Whoever knows the map knows not only which benefit to apply for, but also in which order, because receiving one benefit sometimes affects entitlement to another.
Childhood: the disabled child benefit
Up to age 18 the relevant benefit is the disabled child benefit, paid to parents for a child who needs special medical treatment (from 91 days), who depends on the help of others (from age 3), or who has been diagnosed with an impairment from a closed list, some of which qualify from birth. The benefit ranges from ILS 1,943 to ILS 9,126 a month (as of 1 January 2026) by entitlement level, and a family with two disabled children receives a 50% supplement.
From age 3 a mobility allowance may be added, according to a Ministry of Health committee determination. At 18 the child moves to the adult route, where general disability and special services are examined afresh under different tests. Details on our disabled child benefit page.
Working age: general disability, special services, mobility and work injury
In working age, from 18 to retirement age, the insurance contributions every resident pays insure them against injury to earning capacity. Four benefits operate here, each asking its own question.
General disability asks how much earning capacity has been impaired, regardless of cause: a medical disability of at least 60% (or 40% with one impairment of 25%), a degree of incapacity of 50% or more, and income from work below ILS 8,261 are required. The full pension stands at ILS 4,711 a month.
Special services asks how much help is needed with daily activities, regardless of work: four levels, from ILS 1,943 to ILS 9,126, by dependence on others. Mobility asks whether there is an impairment on the Ministry of Health list that affects walking, and grants an allowance, a standing loan for a vehicle and accessories.
Work injury disability operates on a separate route for anyone injured in the course of and because of their work: injury allowance for up to three months, then a pension or grant according to the degree of disability. Someone injured at work can sometimes choose between the routes, and the choice is not easily reversed.
After retirement: old-age pension and long-term care
At retirement age the benefits concerned with earning capacity close: general disability is converted into an old-age pension, and mobility does not open for anyone not previously entitled. Two benefits continue or open.
Special services is preserved for anyone whose entitlement began before retirement, and a first claim may be filed up to six months after it. Long-term care opens from retirement age for anyone living at home who needs help with daily activities or supervision, subject to an income test, and it is given mainly as care hours, from 5.5 to 30 hours a week, with the option of conversion to cash.
One must choose between special services and long-term care, so anyone approaching retirement age with a special services entitlement needs to calculate what serves them best before filing a long-term care claim.
How the benefits affect one another
The point that surprises many: receiving one benefit sometimes changes entitlement to another. Four recurring examples.
- Special services and long-term care are not paid together; one chooses.
- Special services and mobility are paid together only at the 112% level or above, at 100% mobility limitation, or for a wheelchair user.
- A standing loan for a vehicle on the mobility route may affect entitlement to the disabled child benefit.
- Work injury disability and general disability for the same injury do not accumulate, and the choice of route affects the amount and the objection procedure.
Order therefore matters: sometimes it is right to file one claim first, obtain the percentage determination, and only then approach the second benefit that rests on it.
Three mistakes of applying on the wrong route
The examples from the office repeat themselves, and they share a common denominator: a mismatch between the need and the benefit.
A 48-year-old who has difficulty with daily function files a long-term care claim, and is rejected outright on the age condition, when the right benefit for him is special services. Parents of a 15-year-old file a general disability claim, which is for adults only, instead of a disabled child claim. And someone who has difficulty walking because of an illness not on the Ministry of Health list applies for mobility and is rejected, when general disability or special services were open to them.
The rejection itself is not the end of the road, but it costs months, and in general disability retroactive payment is limited to 12 months from the date of the correct filing. Time lost on the wrong route does not come back.
How to choose the right route
The choice begins with three questions: what is the age, what is the central need, and what is the source of the injury. Age closes and opens benefits; the need distinguishes between earning capacity (general disability), dependence on others (special services, long-term care) and walking (mobility); and the source of the injury distinguishes between general disability and work injury.
After the choice, the file is built according to that benefit’s test: the list of impairments in general disability, daily activities in special services and long-term care, the Ministry of Health list in mobility. One file does not serve all the benefits, and a document that is decisive on one route is irrelevant on another.
And each benefit has its own objection deadlines: 60 days on a medical committee in general disability, 90 days in disabled child and special services, 60 days on the Ministry of Health committee in mobility and on the advisory committee in long-term care. The full map is in our guide to objections and appeals.
In summary
In summary, National Insurance offers people with disabilities separate benefits by life stage: disabled child up to 18; general disability, special services, mobility and work injury disability in working age; and special services that is preserved and long-term care that opens after retirement. Each benefit has its own age, test, examining body and objection deadline, and some are not paid together.
The complexity is not in each benefit alone but in the overlap between them: the age that closes a route, the choice that cannot be reversed, and the loan that affects another benefit. A lawyer who sees the whole map knows which route to file on first, which file to build, and what not to file so as not to close a door.
If you or a family member need support and are not sure which benefit to apply for, contact us with the medical documents and we will tell you frankly which route fits, in which order, and what needs to be in the file.
What comes up most about the benefits map
What is the difference between general disability and special services?
General disability examines the impairment to earning capacity, and is paid to someone who does not work or whose income is below ILS 8,261. Special services examines dependence on others in daily activities, regardless of work. Both can be received, and each is examined separately.
I am 55 and have difficulty with daily function. Long-term care or special services?
Special services. Long-term care opens only from retirement age. Whoever became entitled to special services before retirement keeps it afterwards, and at retirement age chooses between it and long-term care according to what serves them best.
I was injured at work. Work injury disability or general disability?
Work injury disability is the route for an injury in the course of and because of work, and for the same injury the benefits do not accumulate. The choice affects the amount, the objection procedure and associated rights, and is not easily reversed, so it is worth examining before filing.
Can mobility and special services be received together?
Only in three cases: a special services entitlement of 112% or more, 100% mobility limitation, or wheelchair use according to the Ministry of Health determination. Otherwise one must choose.
What happens to the disability pension at retirement age?
The general disability pension is converted into an old-age pension under the Institute’s conversion rules. Special services is preserved for anyone whose entitlement began earlier, and long-term care opens for anyone living at home who needs help, subject to an income test.
I was rejected for one benefit. Is it worth checking another?
Often yes. The same medical condition may qualify on another route under another test: an impairment not on the mobility list may qualify for general disability, and someone rejected for long-term care on age may be entitled to special services. The rejection itself can also be contested within the deadline.
All department pages
General disability · Committees and appeals
General disability claimFibromyalgiaBenefits overviewRepresentation at the medical committeePreparing for the medical committeeObjections and appealsMedical opinionNot sure which benefit to apply for?
Send us the medical documents and the claimant’s age. We will map the open benefits, tell you in which order to file and what not to file so as not to close a door.