× Search rightsnet
Search options

Where

Benefit

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

From

to

Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Residence issues  →  Thread

UC disallowed due to HRT

CDV Adviser
forum member

Nestor Financial Group Ltd

Send message

Total Posts: 493

Joined: 20 January 2016

Any help greatly appreciated as I don’t normally deal with immigration.

I have a client that is living in temporary accommodation with her child following separation from her partner. She receives HB. Her UC has been refused as she has failed the HRT. Her leave was due to expire on 14 July 2021.  Before that date, on 9 July 2021, she made a fee-waiver application and this was granted on 6 October 2021.  She was required to make a substantive application within 10 working days by 20 October 2021, which she did.  Under paragraph 34 Immigration Rules, the date of her application was therefore 9 July 2021.

So shouldn’t she continue to have leave to remain under section 3C and be lawfully resident, with the right to work and to claim benefits? Her ex-partner has had no such issues.

She is desperate as she has no income. Any advice on other help available pending an appeal?

HB Anorak
forum member

Benefits consultant/trainer - hbanorak.co.uk, East London

Send message

Total Posts: 2895

Joined: 12 March 2013

Paragraph 34G I think, but yes that seems to be the effect.  Good luck escalating quickly to a level in UC administration where someone understands all that

Elliot Kent
forum member

Shelter

Send message

Total Posts: 3117

Joined: 14 July 2014

When was UC refused?

As you say it would appear to be the position that provided an application is made within 10 days of the decision to remit the fee, the applicant is entitled to be treated as having made a timely application for the purposes of s3C. (The rules say days, rather than working days, although whether that makes a difference here I don’t know).

I would have imagined that shortly after your client made their application, they would have been issued with correspondence to the effect that they had made a timely application and were covered by s3C.

That ought to be sufficient for the purposes of any UC decision made from the point at which the application was made.

Whether it is also possible to have any decisions made between July and October 2021 revised is a more complicated question.

CDV Adviser
forum member

Nestor Financial Group Ltd

Send message

Total Posts: 493

Joined: 20 January 2016

UC decision was 12 May 2022. I’ve advised her to request MR but I’m concerned about her lack of income until a correct decision is made.

Elliot Kent
forum member

Shelter

Send message

Total Posts: 3117

Joined: 14 July 2014

Yes there isn’t really an easy solution to that. The DWP have (incorrectly) determined your client to be unlawfully in the UK and therefore she won’t receive any support from them unless that decision is displaced.

The options for challenge are broadly:
-MR then appeal
-Pre-action letter for JR (although you will get a lot of lip about this being inappropriate where a statutory dispute procedure exists)
-Informal approaches within the DWP e.g. to partnership managers
(Or some combination thereof.)

In the meantime, your client could seek financial assistance from children’s services on the basis of s17 Children Act. Otherwise they could seek to rely on support from charitable and family sources.

CDV Adviser
forum member

Nestor Financial Group Ltd

Send message

Total Posts: 493

Joined: 20 January 2016

Thank you for all the advice.