UK immigration status needed for DLA claim?

Child born in the UK around May 2021 to EU national (unmarried) parents who have pre-settled status. Dad is a worker.

Child has just had a DLA application refused on the grounds that he “does not have a UK immigration status”.

I think this means that his parents haven’t registered him under the EU Settlement Scheme. I assume this can be reasonably easily remedied by making a late application now under the EUSS and then re-applying for DLA, but my question is whether the child might have a right to DLA now anyway, as the family member of an EEA worker. Or is that all “right to reside” stuff that isn’t relevant here?

Until a court says otherwise, continued reliance on EU rights of residence requires the person to have settled/pre-settled status or a pending application.  For anyone else the Immigration (EEA) Regs 2016 are not preserved and in the absence of leave to enter/remain in any other capacity the person is excluded from benefits by s115 of the Immigration and Asylum 1999 as amended - an EEA national can now be caught by the definition of “person subject to immigration control”, in this particular case as a person who requires leave but does not have it.

It might be possible to establish DLA entitlement from an earlier date by a slightly tortuous route, which won’t be quick, so a new claim following acceptance of an EUSS application is definitely recommended.  The case for an earlier award would rely on the parents’ pre-settled status being the result of incomplete evidence in support of settled status and that they could in fact establish a case for having had a permanent right to reside before May 2021.  A child born in the UK to parents with a permanent EEA right of residence is British by birth.  Even though May 2021 postdates the end of the transition period, EEA rights of residence were preserved for the first six months of 2021 to allow people to make EUSS applications so the parents would still have had a permanent R2R on the date of the child’s birth if they had one by the end of 2020.

As well as all that, there is the general satisfaction of DLA eligibility anyway of course.

Thank you very much. Unfortunately the parents only arrived here in 2020, so no question of a permanent right to reside.