PIP past presence test following UT 2016 UKUT 0547 AAC

Hi there

I have just read the DMG 16/17 & 20/17, Chapter C2 for PIP international issues and Judge Jacobs UT decision.  Needless to say I am now even more confused.

My scenario - 53 year old married man (wife receives SRP) return to UK from Portugal where they lived for 10 years.  Left UK on 21/03/2007 and returned 11/07/17.  They lived on the wife’s state pension and a small work pension of his.  On return to UK the husband claimed PIP which was refused as failed PPT.

I had thought that time spent in Portugal would count but now after the UT decision I am not so sure…the client worked in the UK sufficiently to get an occupational pension and has a home here, family etc and spent the majority of his life here but with the PPT, I had hoped that the time spent in Portugal would count. 

The UT decision made it clear that residence could not be aggregated that “only residence that equates to insurance in a member state can be aggregated” - what does this mean for my client? 

The PIP Chapter 2 para C2133 states that persons within the scope of the EU co-ordination regs claiming PIP do not have to satisfy the PPT if they have sufficient link to the UK’s social security system…UT decision states that the link has to be with the member state and not with its social security system - again what would my client need to show?

Thank you as always :)