Please help! Just seen a Slovakian Family (husband, wife, 2 kids) who have had all their benefits refused because they have no right to reside - HB/CTB, CTC, CB & JSA.

The husband has been here since 2004, got his workers reg cert and worked for one employer for nearly 2 years. The work dried up and after working for a new employer for a few months, he claimed JSA in Oct 08. This was refused, he reapplied and lodged an appeal at the end of Jan 09.

I have checked the Border Agency website and contacted the Worker's Reg office to find out why he wasn't issued a cert after 12 months employment that would show he had the same rights to benefits as any EEA national. They said it was up to the person to get this.

So, I have advised the client to appeal CTC, HB/CTB & CB and having phoned ecah office today, they are all saying that until DWP state he has a R2R they are not going to change their decision.

My client has no income, has a wife and 2 kids (born in Slovakia) to support. What other help is available? In the meantime I need to challenge the DWP decision so am I right in stating that he has the same rights as any EEA national? Any regs would help.

Thanks

There's a contradiction in your post.

The client says he got his workers reg cert and worked for one employer for nearly 2 years and then you say I have checked the Border Agency website and contacted the Worker's Reg office to find out why he wasn't issued a cert after 12 months employment.

You can contact the worker registration team to get verification of an applicaiton and the date of issue of a certificate, but they don't issue duplicate or copy certificates.

If your client has completed 12 months registered work then yes, I would say you are right by virtue of reg 2(3) The Accession (IW) regs 2004.

If your client was late in applying for the certificate so never actually had it in his posession for the whole 12 months then he has a problem. See my related topics:

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=6712&mesg_id=6712&page=

I think he means a different certificate - not a workers registration one. You can apply for a certificate to show you have a right to reside if you have done the 12 months or have a different right to reside eg self employed. Of course you could have lost this right the date after issue but the authorities loving a bit of the old official documents are very impressed by them.

I don't know of any other certificate crucial to right to reside. And, importantly, the person must apply for the certificate within a month of starting work and then work for 12 months, rather than applying for a certificate after having completed 12 months work.

In similiar cases I've had it's all boiled down to when the certificate was issued. I'm still minded to argue that getting a WRC whilst in a job covers the whole job regardless of when it is issued. This idea is against the general grain but so far, nobody has been able to solidly rebut the suggestion.

It's not crucial, you can just have one if you want. Its called a registration certificate and you apply for it using an EEA1 form. The home office website says "A registration certificate is a document issued to EEA nationals that confirms that person's right of residence under European law. You are not required to have a registration certificate to enter, live or work in the United Kingdom."

Heres a link to the bit on their website: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/applyingundereuropeanlaw/

It is crucial if an A8 national, not meeting any other condition to pass the RtR test, wants to claim benefit; and that is the topic of the discussion.

If we're not talking about a worker registration certificate, then what?

Were at cross purposes here. I para 2 of his post jom is refering to a workers registration certificate but in para 3 he is talking about the EEA1 thingymibob: "a cert after 12 months employment that would show he had the same rights to benefits as any EEA national". The EEA1 thingymibob is the one that isn't crucial to anything

I see - I read it as referring entirely to the WRC. I don't remember having come across the EEA1 thingymibob before - I'll have to look it up.

Make sure you sepll "thingymibob" correctly if you are Googling as it is technical term in EEA law.

Thanks, he has all the revelant WR certs I just needed reassurance that as he had them and had worked for a continuous period of 12 months he would have the same rights as any EEA national.

Hi, I am very interested to know what happened in this particular case,
I get plenty of queries regarding this issue specially after Nov 08 when new rules came into force as to you lose your job, you lose your R2R.