Polish national came to the uk in June 2001 with child from her previous marriage she married her husband who is a uk nataional in November 2001.

Client had paid employement with breaks in a few jobs and did not register for work because in Feb 2005 she had permission from the home office to work for 12 months. She also set up as a self employed hair dresser!

She has now seperated from her husband and receives child benefit, working tax credits. She has also successfully claimed housing benefit who applied the habitual residence test.

Income support have declined her claim on the grounds that she is not a qualified person and does not have the right to reside for benefit purposes.

Q. Is this correct please

thanks for your help!!

2001 is long before Poland joined the EU so she must have come in under domestic law. What was her immigration status at that date?

I would have expected her to come in under a spouse visa, which would have given her the right to work, and to apply for indefinite leave to remain after one or two years (can't remember when the law changed). The ref to right to work for 12 months in 2005 is confusing - it sugggests the worker registration scheme. But if she had indefinite leave the WRS is irrelevant to her.

The key must lie in her status before 1.5.2004, and I simply can't deduce that from the information. Have you seen her passport? If she had ILR before 1.5.2004, nothing except 2 yrs absence abroad can take that away from her, and she is likely anyway to have lived legally in the UK for 5 years and be a qualifying person on that ground too. But at present I can't understand what has happened. Neither, I imagine, can the decision maker.