ESA and Right to reside

Hi
Can anyone help with this.  I have a client who came from Finland in 2003 as a student which her parents paid for.  She became unwell and did claim Income Support and Housing bnefit etc and was paid.  In 2009 she returned to Finland for 2 months.  When she returned to this country she did not claim any benefits and lived with a man who supported her ( by not claiming any bnefits).  She was actually under a sort of house arrest as drugs were involved.  She has a severe mental health problem.  She has now got away from him to women’s refuge and now living in a scatter flat.  She has been disallowed ESA based on habitually resident as she has no proof she was in this country.  The man she lived with has provided a letter stating she lived with him but that is all.  DWP not accepting this and disallowed again.  I have her passport number and have contacted Border Patrol but no joy yet.  Any ideas on how to deal with this.

Sound like she may have acquired a permanent right to reside by the time she returned to Finland in 2009.  If so then only lost if absent for 2 years plus.  This then raises the issue in question - when did she return to the UK and how does she prove this?  You mention a form of house arrest?  There must be records of this which would surely then prove that she had returned to the UK.  Also seems unlikely that no other paper trail - did she register with a GP?  Have contact with MH services?  There must be other people or services she had conatct with that can confirm her presence in the UK.

Best idea seems to appeal and then the tribunal can weigh up the evidence and decide on her credibility.  In the meantime she can assert a right to reside as a jobseeker by claiming JSA and putting reasonable restrictions on her availability for work in light of her MH problems - at least then she can get some income and entitlement to HB too.

Thank you for that.  Just this morning i have received a copy of DWP reconsideration and they have different dates for my client.  They say she came here on 5/8/2005 to 6/7/2009 then left for two months.  She has never registered with a doctor, dentist or anything.  She had no contact with anyone until we got involved Sept 2011 when she claimed JSA but because she was detained in hospital under mental health she claimed ESA.  Due to the state of her mind she is very unclear of her dates and I have now contacted University to confirm period of attendance.

That does change things.  If no permanent right to reside from pre-2009 residence then options for her current right to reside do seem limited to jobseeker as very unlikely to be able to establish any retained status.  Has she tried a new JSA claim? Contacting college does seem best option.