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EEA Jobseeker diagnosed as terminally ill
Hi,
We have a client who is a naturalized Greek citizen, originally from Romania. He Arrived in the UK in Nov 2016 and began working up until January 2017 when he began to suffer symptoms which have since been found to be related to lung cancer.
At the time, the client made an application for JSA and this subsequently ended on 1/6/17 as he has been deemed as not having a genuine prospect of finding work. As it stands, he is not eligible for any means tested benefits because being a Jobseeker appeared to be his only R2R.
Client was diagnosed with lung cancer on 7/7/17 and a DS1500 was issued 13/7/17. Just wondering whether we would be able to put in a backdated application for ESA if we can evidence that he was not fit for work prior to 1/6/17, when his JSA ended? Is there provision to be able to claim ESA during the job seeking period if there is a change of circs?
Any suggestions are much appreciated!
Kate
Oh dear this sounds like a difficult one.
There would normally be arguments that client could retain his worker status as temporarily unable to work due to illness but unfortunately if he has a DS1500 it seems to be difficult to sustain the ‘temporary’ part of that. Maybe you could run an argument that the DS1500 is only expressing a ‘reasonable expectation’ that the client will pass away in the next 6 months and that there is still a hope (if not an expectation) that the client might respond well to treatment and eventually be able to return to work. Obviously it depends on your client’s particular prognosis.
He can get PIP - he doesn’t have to meet the presence requirements as he is terminally ill and there is no RtR test. But obviously that won’t pay his rent.
From a benefits point of view the only thing I can think of is to see if there are any close family members (parents/adult children) who are either already in the UK or who could come over to the UK to find work and support him so that he can argue that he is a dependent family member. If there was a potential ‘candidate’ then perhaps you could explore whether your Local Authority would be able to pay direct payments to your client to fund his care by employing the family member as his carer.
Otherwise I think you need to be liaising with your Local Authority’s No Recourse to Public Funds team to see what they are prepared to do to assist. My understanding is that the NRPF teams will not normally support EU nationals without a RtR but I think that in extreme circumstances they can do assessments of whether expecting a person to return to their ‘home country’ would be in breach of their rights under the Human Rights Act. It’s not an area I’m massively familiar with if I’m honest - hopefully somebody with more knowledge will be able to chime in?
[ Edited: 9 Aug 2017 at 11:00 am by SamW ]Oh dear this sounds like a difficult one.
There would normally be arguments that client could retain his worker status as temporarily unable to work due to illness but unfortunately if he has a DS1500 it seems to be difficult to sustain the ‘temporary’ part of that. Maybe you could run an argument that the DS1500 is only expressing a ‘reasonable expectation’ that the client will pass away in the next 6 months and that there is still a hope (if not an expectation) that the client might respond well to treatment and eventually be able to return to work. Obviously it depends on your client’s particular prognosis.
He can get PIP - he doesn’t have to meet the presence requirements as he is terminally ill and there is no RtR test. But obviously that won’t pay his rent.
From a benefits point of view the only thing I can think of is to see if there are any close family members (parents/adult children) who are either already in the UK or who could come over to the UK to find work and support him so that he can argue that he is a dependent family member. If there was a potential ‘candidate’ then perhaps you could explore whether your Local Authority would be able to pay direct payments to your client to fund his care by employing the family member as his carer.
Otherwise I think you need to be liaising with your Local Authority’s No Recourse to Public Funds team to see what they are prepared to do to assist. My understanding is that the NRPF teams will not normally support EU nationals without a RtR but I think that in extreme circumstances they can do assessments of whether expecting a person to return to their ‘home country’ would be in breach of their rights under the Human Rights Act. It’s not an area I’m massively familiar with if I’m honest - hopefully somebody with more knowledge will be able to chime in?
Thank you - very helpful!!
Is the lung cancer occupational?
As to NRPF, the LA’s duty under the National Assistance Act is to provide their fare home unless sthat would be an abuse of thier convention rights. With EU nationals you’d tend to find that if there was an abuse they’ve likely got close enough ties to people resident in the UK to establish dependancy and thus a R2R.
The sticking point comes where NRPF arises because someone is a Person Subject to Immigration Control however EU nationals cannot be PSIC. It can cause some controversy however the duty under NAA is a generic one and the destitute plus provisions should apply to EU nationals; don’t let the terminology; NRPF, PSIC etc derail the application.
Is the lung cancer occupational?
how would that help? (in any event, if he’s only been here since november 2016, any occupational link would have to be to a pre UK arrival exposure, since it isn’t that quick to develop)
Is the lung cancer occupational?
how would that help? (in any event, if he’s only been here since november 2016, any occupational link would have to be to a pre UK arrival exposure, since it isn’t that quick to develop)
Because if he could claim IIDB that might leave him as a worker who has ceased activity; there’s no temporal qualification for occupational diseases although you do need to show pension rights arising from the disease that are payable from a UK institution.
Straw clutching I admit but there’s a Kurdish proverb that tells us that a drowning man will grasp every rock…
Because if he could claim IIDB that might leave him as a worker who has ceased activity; there’s no temporal qualification for occupational diseases although you do need to show pension rights arising from the disease that are payable from a UK institution.
ah!
Straw clutching I admit but there’s a Kurdish proverb that tells us that a drowning man will grasp every rock…
and a rock doesn’t float
and a rock doesn’t float
but if it’s fastened to the side of the river it might give him a chance to pull himself out; that was the jist of the proverb.
It was a civil engineer with a Right to Reside appeal who told me that!