Hi all,

I have had a call from a woman who is in the UK on a work permit with no recourse to public funds, with her husband both of whom are not EEA nationals, and their country of origin does not have a reciprocal agreement with the UK on benefits. They've been here around 18 months.

She is currently getting child ben and CTC for her child, who is now almost a year old. (the child was born here in NI and has an irish passport). She has contacted us as she was told by a friend that she shouldn't be getting benefit, and she is now conerned that this may affect any extensions of leave that she applies for.

Can anyone explain why she may be getting CB or CTC. The only possible explanation I can see that as the child was born here, the mother could be considered a family member of EEA national and therefore can get CB. But I'm not sure about CTC, as it states a family memebr of a EEA worker, and the child is certainly not a worker!

Any help would be great, cos i am getting conflicting advice from various different sources. Cheers,

Lee

The CTC should be ok as it is not in the list of benefits which count as having recourse to public funds. There was a news item on this site a couple of months ago as it looked as though it was for a period. I have a letter for a client which lists the benefits which count, and if I remember correctly it still has WFTC and DPTC on it.

Again if I remember correctly Child Benefit is on the list.

You are right CB can arguably be paid under para 1 of Part II of Schedule to Social Security (Immigration and Asylum) Consequential Amendments Regs. However, this is a recourse to funds so doing so may breach immigration conditions.

We had an appeal for a guy (asylum seeker) who ended up getting Carers Allowance on the basis his granddaughter was a UK national. The argument that he was a "family member" of her was quite amusing (involved arguing that the schedule is drafted to give effect to European legislation so must be interpreted widely enough to include that but could not be interpreted to only mean the same as the EU stuff - so it actually has a wider meaning). I have a sub somewhere- if you want to see email me.

As to the CTC there is some vagueness around whether that is a public fund - see the rightsnet story etc. However, with this one, whilst it may not be recourse to funds, I cannot see how claimant could receive it in social security law.

Good luck.

Martin.

The recent ECJ case of Chen provides for the parents of an EU national to reside with them in the EU, even if not EU nationals themselves, as long as the child is exercising treaty rights.That involved a child born in NI and so entitled to Irish citizenship (at the time). However the key point was that they were self-sufficient, so can't see how that would help.

Seems like recourse to public funds to me in respect of CB. CTC is still not listed in the immigration rules as public funds, and arguably is completely different from WFTC and therfore not covered.

If they want to renew the work permit, or apply for indefinite leave after 4 yrs i would suggest that they contact the inland revenue to stop the CB payments.