New EU National Claims & HB

Can EU nationals claim housing benefit asap when coming into the UK when working or do they have to have worked 3 months doing genuine and effective work before they claim HB.

They can claim HB as soon as they are in effective and genuine work - there is no prior residence qualification.  In particular an EU worker is not subject to the factual part of the habitual residence test.  Of course the Council has to be satisfied that the person is claiming HB for the dwelling normally occupied as the home, so if you came to the UK on say a three-month contract with the intention of returning home at the end the Council would very probably conclude that you don’t occupy the UK dwelling as your home.

Thanks for the replies but one more thing…can you confirm what the requirement of the genuine and effective work for 3 months test further allows the EU national to obtain.

An EU worker in effective and genuine work has full equal access to all benefits and other social entitlements: might as well be British.

Again thanks for the update bit on GOV.UK it refers to…

To show they are undertaking genuine and effective work in the UK an EEA migrant will have to show that for the last 3 months they have been earning at the level at which employees start paying National Insurance.

Has this 3 month qualifying period been removed or does it imply some other waiting period for certain EU nationals in claiming certain benefits and if so what benefits etc.

Ah, that is a notorious piece of guidance that is widely misunderstood and often deliberately “spun” in a misleading way by DWP.

The detailed guidance circular to HB decision makers on what they call the “minimum earnings threshold” essentially says this:

- if someone has been earning enough to pay Class 1 NIC for at least three months no-one in their right mind is going to question whether that is effective and genuine so don’t waste time on those cases, just award HB
- but apply much closer scrutiny to cases where they have not been employed for as long and/or not earning that much

The guidance goes on to mention most of the landmark decisions on effective and genuine work and it is actually a pretty good Circular as they go.  But the approach is presented to the wider public in the manner of that extract from gov.uk - it gives the impression that you cannot be in effective and genuine work unless you have worked at least three months.

Take this admittedly unlikely example.  The claimant arrived in the UK last week and has found work as an HB assessor on a permanent contract.  This is clearly effective and genuine work: the nature of the employer, the level of pay, the economic value of the work (filling a role that needs to be filled by someone) and the future prospects all outweigh the fact that it is so far very short term work.

Again many thanks and just to confirm…..

EU nationals have to wait 3 months before being able to claim JSA for a further 3 months and possible 1 month thereafter.

They can’t get HB during these periods.

After the 3 months they can claim JSA, child benefit and CTC for 3 months with a possible further month but then lose their RTR so lose out claiming JSA, CTC and CB.

EU nationals who carry out genuine and effective work immediately upon arrival in the UK can claim Housing benefit, CTC and CB if they have kids.

Newly arrived EU nationals in UC areas cant claim JSA via UC so have to work asap.

Many thanks

Yes, spot on.  The 3m + a bit shouldn’t be quite that rigid, but in practice DWP decision makers will act that way - it is only on appeal that longer periods of jobseeking might be allowed.  In the eyes of European law you have a right to reside (and so to claim JSA, CTC and ChB) for as long as you are genuinely seeking work and have realistic prospects of finding it, but in the UK this is applied by first instance decision makers as 3m plus maybe a bit longer.  So for all practical purposes your summary is correct.