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UC AND EC REGULATION 883/04
Does anyone know of there has been any legal challenges about the classification of UC being within scope of EC Regulation 883/04 ?
I have done some research and found that the government’s previous response has been that UC is outside the scope of this Regulation because it’s nature is considered as ‘social assistance’. Within this Regulation , there is nothing I have found in the Regulation that specifies which benefits are considered as ‘social assistance’
Given that UC replaces IB JSA and IR ESA - both these benefits are listed as ‘special non- contributory benefits’ within the co -ordination rules which intends to provide supplementary cover against the risks of sickness and unemployment .
So my , argument is that it should be considered as a ‘special non contributory benefit’.
What is everyone’s view on this ?
Good place to start might be Rebecca Walker’s article for CPAG from 2014 when the restrictions were introduced.
Thanks for that Paul. Already checked it out but it does not answer my question.
Thoughts:
Whereas IBJSA was a benefit intended to provide services to Jobseekers, and IRESA was a benefit to provide services to people incapacitated they served a specific purpose; UC is a catch all so I’m not sure it would fall within special non cont status. It’s almost as though it was designed that way.
That being said; IIRC DLA Care is special non cont whereas mobility isn’t so you might be able to partition the different routes through which a person migth qualify for UC.
Whichever way, there’s a solid weekend’s reading of ECJ decisions before most folk might get anywhere close to a concluded view on the issue. Good luck with that 😉