discussion forum

Good morning all and a very warm greeting on an otherwise very wet and chilly Wednesday morning !

I have a cl this afternoon aged 63 or 64 from France and has been in UK for approx. 15 - 17 years.
He was in receipt of JSA but due to physical health problems and being an alcoholic he could no longer work and claimed ESA.
Unfortunately he failed to attend the LCWA because he has said he could not get to the medical centre and as a result his ESA, HB and CTB has ceased, and he is in court this afternoon because his landlord wants to evict him because of rent arrears.
I know an EEA national can claim ESA on the basis of temporary incapacity for work but until I get a decision on whether we can argue good cause for cl not attending the medical he has no income and his HB / CTB will not be put in to payment.
My take on the matter is :
Cl could reclaim JSA, argue good cause for not attending the medical and have HB / CTB put back in to payment.
Cl could try to get med. cert from GP that states his health has got significantly worse and reclaim ESA, meaning HB / CTB will be put back in to payment if JCP accept med. cert.
As far as I know cl has not worked legally in the UK for many years so cannot gain permanent right of residence on this basis.
I know for non EEA nationals there is a rule that states a person can obtain unlawful residence in the UK if they have been here for more than 14 years and does anybody know if this applies to EEA nationals, or if there is a similar argument ?

Any thoughts very much appreciated !
Thanks

Not sure regarding the R2R thing however his HB/CTB should still be getting paid due to nil income.

Hmmmm ...

My thoughts were :

for cl. to receive HB / CTB (in work benefits) in this situation he would have to be economically active, ie : in employment or claiming JSA, or receiving ESA because of a temporary incapacity for work ?

Re : PC, again, because he has not gained a permanent right of residence he has to be in the above situations to receive benefits as noted ?

I may be wrong, please tell me if i am ???

Thanks for the replies ...

As pointed out by Duncan, he may have acquired permanent RtR due to 5 years or less residence and the fact that he has not worked for a number of years will not mean that he has lost it.  Seems this case might not be that dissimilar to Lassal - http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/2010/C16209.html

Thank you for that ...