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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Residence issues  →  Thread

UC HRT and settled status - magic cure?

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JojoMitchell
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Hi, I’m waiting to get an email from her but in the meantime lets assume the worst in that she isn’t a qualifying person…

Elliot Kent
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JojoMitchell - 16 January 2020 04:10 PM

Hope someone can point me in the right direction.  I have a 19 yo (receives PIP) who has failed the HRT for UC.  His mother who he lives with is his appointee and she receives ESA, PIP, HB/CTR.  The 19 yo was born here doesn’t have British nationality, he is Portuguese and Australian.  The mother tried to apply for EU settlement status for her son under her own EU settlement (which she was advised was the best way for a child under 21), the Home Office is still to confirm his status and has been told that it could take 6 months. 

What can they do regarding his UC?

Thanks!

It’s still currently possible to rely on old fashioned EEA rights in the absence of settled status being awarded.

I think you want to iron out exactly what his parents have been doing throughout their time in the UK. When they got here. If and when they have been working. When mum stopped worker. If they were married or divorced (and if they have re-married) and so on. This goes towards whether he is able to draw any status from them. It is unlikely that he has any EEA status of his own (although it isn’t impossible that he is actually a British citizen depending on the facts…)

If settled status is awarded in the future, he will need to make a new claim in order for it to be considered as it is not retrospective.

 

Stuart
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For what it’s worth, the House of Lords yesterday voted in favour by 269 to 1 to amend the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill to -

‘... remove the Bill’s references to a constitutive system and instead makes clear it will implement the Withdrawal Agreement via a declaratory registration system that ensures EU citizens can receive a physical document to prove their right of residence in the UK.’

 

Jo_Smith
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Oh how far from the “magic cure” this is all proving to be!

Client has settled status.
Tells DWP “I have settled status and this is my reference number”.
Fails HRT.
Re-claims UC.
Tells DWP:  “I have settled status and this is my reference number”.
Gets invited to HRT interview. Second one.
Gets asked ALL sorts of questions- except about settled status.
Shoves the settled status letter under the JCP person’s nose (which, by the way is ” not proof of Settled Status or Pre-settled Status on their own, as they do not contain biometric information.”) but nothing doing.

The only question I have: is it apathy or willful obstruction?

 

Timothy Seaside
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Jo_Smith - 13 February 2020 10:32 AM

Oh how far from the “magic cure” this is all proving to be!

The only question I have: is it apathy or willful obstruction?

I like to think the best of people so I am going to say it’s probably ignorance and a lack of training for the individual officers involved. But it seems to be happening too often across the DWP to be written off as unintentional, and so I see it as institutional racism.

Va1der
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Jo_Smith - 13 February 2020 10:32 AM

Oh how far from the “magic cure” this is all proving to be!

Magic is just *science you don’t understand*. In this case the UC computer system.

I can attest to this from my own UC claim back in the day:

“I’ve got some evidence relevant to my claim” (I think it was details of savings in overseas accounts or some such)
- The computer isn’t asking for it…
“But, I know it’s relevant! I’m a welfare adviser etc. and the evidence is right here in my hand…”
- Sorry, as long as the computer isn’t asking for it I can’t take it…
“...”
- Do you have proof of address?
“I’ve got my tenancy agreement on my phone, can I email it to you or upload it?”
- There’s a computer over there - if you could log in to your email, print out the tenancy and give it to me, then I’ll scan it and attach it to the system.

At this stage I put my pants on my head and started dancing around, and was promptly helped out of the building by some sympathetic security staff.

Incidentally, they asked my partner for this evidence during her interview. Of course she wasn’t allowed to provide it, as it was tied to my account - so I was asked to make a new appointment. Fortunately I had obtained employment so didn’t have to bother (although JCP did ask me to take a day off work to come see them…)

 

 

Jo_Smith
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I am Polish and I had my own barrel of fun with HRT.
Pants on the head were not needed but manic laugh was…

Joking aside; I am on a look out for a client brave and sufficiently annoyed to be taken on the JR journey. Because these repeat HRTs are a barrel of garbage rather than fun. Discriminatory to sat the least.

Va1der
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Unfortunately I don’t see many immigration related cases anymore. However, when I did I was developing a gnawing suspicion that claimants from Eastern Europe, or with Eastern European-sounding names were put through more stringent residency tests.

I’d be surprised if such a measure was built into the UC computer system (although recent stories, like the Muhammed insurance issue, raises those questions), but there’s also the question of conscious or subconscious racism at JCPs, it would certainly be in line with the current political climate.

Would be interesting to see if anyone else has made similar observations. Perhaps a cleverly worded FOI could reveal useful information.

I’m not one to hope for institutional racism, but I would be on the lookout for issues significant enough to finally force DWP to change their practices.