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Tough new questions for EU migrants added to habitual residence test (20 December 2013)

Date: 20/12/2013
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Tough new questions for EU migrants added to habitual residence test

As the time for lifting the transitional controls on Romanians and Bulgarians draws near, the government is rushing through the addition of 100 new questions to the habitual residence test.

The test is used to determine entitlement to benefits, such as income support, housing benefit and council tax benefit, and the new questions will make it harder for European Union (EU) migrants to obtain these. Controls are lifted as of the 1st January 2014 and from that date people applying for benefits will be questioned about their ability to speak English and asked to explain why they were unable to find a job in their home country.

EU legislation permits the free movement of people within the Union’s external borders, and this gives all EU citizens the right to live and work in any member state. Immigration lawyers already advise EU migrants that they will have to prove that they have been seeking work in the UK before the government will permit them to make a claim for benefits.

Notwithstanding the fact that the spirit of the law is to cut back administrative formalities to the bare essentials, the UK government believes it is legally entitled to ask tougher questions of people seeking to make benefit claims. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said they were seeking more evidence and more detailed answers to individually tailored questions before allowing people to claim benefits.

Welfare reforms

The government’s recent welfare reforms have already had an impact on the benefits available to UK citizens, particularly those who are disabled, according to a number of studies carried out in the last six months. In July, the National Housing Federation said that rent arrears across the UK had soared since the housing benefit cut was introduced in April and large houses were lying empty because the introduction of the spare room subsidy, dubbed the bedroom tax, meant that people could not afford to live in them.

In September, a study by Sheffield Hallam University demonstrated that Blackpool in the North West had been hit harder by benefit cuts than anywhere else in the UK. On average, adults of working age here lost £910 per annum, compared to an average of £470 across the country. The prime minister made a statement saying that disabled people would be exempted from the bedroom tax, however in December a report on the impact of welfare reforms by housing association Habinteg demonstrated that he was mistaken, as exemptions were granted to only one-third of the disabled people occupying Habinteg’s specialised accessible housing.

Getting help

When it comes to assessing people for benefits, whether UK citizens or EU migrants, incorrect decisions are sometimes made because the welfare benefit system is extremely complex. When this happens it is important to get professional help in order to rectify the situation.

Duncan Lewis, has a team of Welfare Benefits solicitors who assist large numbers of clients to challenge incorrect decisions, and to make appeals to the First Tier and Upper Tribunals. The team has achieved considerable success in helping clients and, in many cases, has improved their financial situations.

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