Social security benefit checker

Social Security Benefit Checker

Use this skill to perform an offline preliminary eligibility screen for common Israeli National Insurance benefits:

• unemployment benefit
• general disability allowance
• child allowance
• income supplement

The skill is designed for Israeli small businesses, freelancers, employees, household advisers, consumer support teams, and accountants who need a structured triage before submitting official forms. Treat every result as operational guidance, not as a legal decision or payment calculation.

Core principles

Use imperative, evidence-based screening:

1. Collect the minimum facts needed for each benefit.
2. Separate "likely eligible", "possibly eligible", "not likely", and "insufficient information".
3. Produce reasons, missing information, documents, warnings, and next steps.
4. Avoid identity numbers, medical records, or bank files in prompts and local examples unless a secure storage layer is added.
5. Verify official rules and current amount tables before advising a claimant.

Supported benefits

Benefit	Primary audience	Key gate checks	Common blockers
Unemployment benefit	Laid-off employees, terminated employees, some business-closure cases	age, residency, qualifying months, Employment Service registration, termination reason	current self-employment, missing registration, voluntary resignation waiting period, insufficient qualifying period
General disability allowance	Residents with medical impairment and reduced earning capacity	age, residency, medical disability percent, work-capacity loss percent	missing medical committee data, earning capacity below threshold, retirement-age boundary
Child allowance	Parents or eligible guardians with children under 18	residency, child count, age of child, registry status	child over 18, custody routing issue, missing birth date
Income supplement	Low-income households and some low-income workers	residency, household status, income, assets, work-test or exemption	assets above limit, unverified work-test exemption, household income above 2026 screening income cap

Minimum input schema

{
  "age": 38,
  "resident": true,
  "employment_status": "unemployed",
  "monthly_income": 8000,
  "spouse_income": 0,
  "children_count": 2,
  "household_type": "single_parent",
  "qualifying_months": 14,
  "termination_reason": "laid_off",
  "registered_employment_service": true,
  "birth_dates": ["10/01/2017", "15/08/2020"],
  "medical_disability_percent": null,
  "work_capacity_loss_percent": null,
  "assets_exceed_limit": false,
  "vehicle_value_exceeds_limit": false,
  "receives_other_benefit": false
}

Prefer DD/MM/YYYY dates when working with Israeli users. ISO dates are accepted by the Python helper.

Decision tree

flowchart TD
    A[Start profile intake] --> B{Resident of Israel?}
    B -- No --> Z[Most supported checks are not likely]
    B -- Yes --> C{Benefit requested}
    C --> U[Unemployment]
    C --> D[General disability]
    C --> CH[Child allowance]
    C --> I[Income supplement]

    U --> U1{Age 20 to retirement age?}
    U1 -- No --> UZ[Not likely unless exception applies]
    U1 -- Yes --> U2{Qualifying months available?}
    U2 -- No --> UM[Insufficient information]
    U2 -- Yes --> U3{Registered with Employment Service?}
    U3 -- No --> UM
    U3 -- Yes --> U4{Separation reason recognized?}
    U4 -- Yes --> UL[Likely eligible]
    U4 -- Resigned --> UP[Possibly eligible with waiting period]
    U4 -- Unknown --> UM

    D --> D1{Age 18 to retirement age?}
    D1 -- No --> DZ[Not likely for general disability]
    D1 -- Yes --> D2{Medical percent and capacity loss known?}
    D2 -- No --> DM[Insufficient information]
    D2 -- Yes --> D3{Thresholds met?}
    D3 -- Yes --> DL[Likely eligible]
    D3 -- No --> DZ

    CH --> CH1{At least one child under 18?}
    CH1 -- Yes --> CHL[Likely eligible]
    CH1 -- Missing birth dates --> CHP[Possibly eligible]
    CH1 -- No --> CHZ[Not likely]

    I --> I1{Household income below 2026 screening income cap?}
    I1 -- No --> IZ[Not likely]
    I1 -- Yes --> I2{Assets and work-test clear?}
    I2 -- Yes --> IL[Likely eligible]
    I2 -- Missing --> IM[Insufficient information]

Web-validated 2026 constants

Use these constants only for preliminary screening as of 02/06/2026. Recheck official pages before production use or case advice.

Area	Current screening value	Use carefully
VAT context	18% from 01/01/2025	Business-context verification only; not part of benefit eligibility.
Child allowance	₪173 for the first and fifth-or-later child; ₪219 for the second through fourth child	Birth order and subsistence increments can change the official amount.
General disability	full degree amount ₪4,711; partial degree amounts ₪2,718, ₪2,894, ₪3,211	Committee decisions and additions determine final payment.
Income support	work-income caps vary by age and household type; for age 25 to 54, single parent with two or more children uses ₪9,865	Exact amount requires the official calculator.
Unemployment	daily ceiling ₪550.76 for the first 125 payment days and ₪367.17 afterward	Actual monthly payment depends on reporting days and deductions.

Concrete examples

1. Laid-off employee

Input:

{
  "age": 44,
  "resident": true,
  "employment_status": "unemployed",
  "monthly_income": 10500,
  "qualifying_months": 16,
  "termination_reason": "laid_off",
  "registered_employment_service": true,
  "children_count": 1,
  "birth_dates": ["22/03/2016"]
}

Expected interpretation:

• unemployment benefit: likely eligible, subject to official calculation and entitlement days
• child allowance: likely eligible if the child is registered and under 18
• income supplement: not likely if the prior wage reflects current household income, retest after income drops
• general disability: insufficient information unless medical facts exist

2. Freelancer with low current income

Input:

{
  "age": 51,
  "resident": true,
  "employment_status": "self_employed",
  "monthly_income": 1800,
  "spouse_income": 0,
  "children_count": 0,
  "household_type": "single",
  "registered_employment_service": true,
  "assets_exceed_limit": false
}

Expected interpretation:

• unemployment benefit: not likely unless a recognized business-closure pathway applies
• income supplement: possibly or likely eligible depending on assets, work-test status, and current official thresholds
• child allowance: not likely
• general disability: insufficient information unless medical facts exist

3. Parent checking child allowance

Input:

{
  "age": 34,
  "resident": true,
  "children_count": 3,
  "birth_dates": ["01/02/2013", "14/06/2018", "27/11/2022"]
}

Expected interpretation:

• child allowance: likely eligible
• next action: verify registry status and payment account
• warning: separated parents, guardianship, foster care, or institutional care may change who receives the payment

4. Disability claim intake

Input:

{
  "age": 49,
  "resident": true,
  "employment_status": "not_working",
  "monthly_income": 0,
  "medical_disability_percent": 65,
  "work_capacity_loss_percent": 75
}

Expected interpretation:

• general disability: likely eligible in a preliminary screen
• next action: prepare medical summaries, specialist reports, test results, income documents, and functional limitation evidence
• warning: only official medical and capacity determinations control entitlement

Edge cases

Voluntary resignation

Mark unemployment as "possibly eligible" when resignation is voluntary. Add a warning about a waiting period. Treat justified resignation separately when documentation supports the reason, such as material worsening of working conditions, health reasons, or relocation circumstances recognized by the official process.

Unpaid leave

Check whether unpaid leave is employer-initiated, long enough, and recognized under current rules. Require Employment Service registration unless a current official exemption applies.

Mixed employee and self-employed income

Screen unemployment only for the salaried component. Screen income supplement against the full household income picture. Request accountant confirmation for current self-employed profit, advance tax payments, and National Insurance advances.

Business closure

A freelancer or controlling shareholder should not be treated like a regular employee. Use a business-closure pathway only when the person has stopped activity, has documentation, and the current official rules support the claim.

Retirement-age boundary

General disability allowance normally stops at retirement age. Use a separate old-age, nursing, mobility, or special-services workflow when the profile is outside the supported age range.

Child close to age 18

Use the birth date, not only child count. Flag the case when the 18th birthday is close to the claim or payment date.

Separated parents

Do not assume the parent entering the data receives child allowance. Require custody, guardianship, or payment-routing verification.

Income supplement and vehicle ownership

Flag vehicle value or ownership as a possible blocker. Apply official exceptions only after reviewing the current instructions.

Anti-patterns

Avoid these practices:

• Treating the output as an official decision.
• Estimating exact benefit amounts from old tables.
• Ignoring Employment Service registration dates.
• Mixing business revenue with taxable self-employed profit.
• Asking for identity numbers or medical files in unsecured prompts.
• Classifying every low-income person as eligible for income supplement without asset and work-test review.
• Assuming child allowance payment routing in separation or guardianship cases.
• Using stale emergency rules after the emergency period ends.

Troubleshooting

Use references/troubleshooting.md for detailed failures. Common quick checks:

Symptom	Likely cause	Correction
Result is insufficient_information	Required field is missing	Add the exact field listed under missing_info
Unemployment result is not likely for a freelancer	Current business activity blocks the regular pathway	Add business_closed: true only when documentation supports closure
Child allowance result is only possible	Birth dates are missing	Add birth_dates in DD/MM/YYYY or ISO format
Income supplement result conflicts with expectation	Household income, assets, or work-test details are incomplete	Review spouse income, asset flags, vehicle flag, and Employment Service status
Tests fail after renaming files	Hyphenated module imports remain	Import social_security_benefit_checker or scripts/social_security_benefit_checker_client.py

Production checklist

Before using the skill in a live workflow:

1. Verify current National Insurance amount tables and eligibility pages.
2. Verify Employment Service registration and work-test instructions.
3. Record the rule version, profile timestamp, and official source date.
4. Add secure handling for identity numbers, medical files, bank documents, and claim forms.
5. Keep source documents outside model prompts unless redacted.
6. Add human review before telling a person to submit or not submit a claim.
7. Log every missing-data item separately from negative eligibility reasons.
8. Test edge cases for age boundary, child age, voluntary resignation, income drop, and assets.
9. Add Hebrew review for any user-facing wording.
10. Retain only the minimum data required for the operational purpose.

File index

File	Purpose
README.md	installation, quick start, file index
SKILL.md	English operating guide
SKILL_HE.md	Hebrew operating guide
references/api-reference.md	official source references, local interface examples, error tables
references/workflow-guide.md	end-to-end workflows
references/troubleshooting.md	detailed operational troubleshooting
references/test-scenarios.md	more than 20 concrete test scenarios
references/migration-checklist.md	upgrade guidance
references/branding-audit.md	neutrality audit
references/hebrew-qa-log.md	Hebrew quality review log
scripts/social_security_benefit_checker_client.py	typed sync and async helper
scripts/social-security-benefit-checker-cli.py	script wrapper for the Typer CLI
social_security_benefit_checker/	installable Python package