French national under UK pension age but of pension age under French system

Hi,
I need some help with this one, despite having attended a two-day course on benefits for EU nationals at CPAG and reading through my notes from start to finish!  I’ve also tried to phone CPAG Specialist Support Unit but it’s impossible to get through. I’m getting a bit desperate and I hope someone can help!

Briefly, I have a male client aged 61 (DOB 2nd April 1949) of French nationality wanting to come and live in the UK to be close to his daughter. He’s married and his wife is 56 years old. He receives a state pension from France of approx. 850 Euros per month. His wife, also French, receives no money from the French system. Client has never worked int he UK. Client is under the impression that the French pension will stop if if he moves to the UK. I have two questions:

- Can he export the French State Pension to the UK even though he’s not yet of pension age for the UK system (but he is for the French)? Is this a contentious issue or is the response a clear-cut yes or no? If yes, then is he definitely allowed to receive just as much even though the UK state pension is less?

- Can he otherwise claim Pension Credit or ESA? I checked the entitlement age and he would already be entitled to PC if he was a UK citizen. i think he would not satisfy the contribution conditions for ESA as he hasn’t worked in France for a long time (and has never worked in the UK).

I suppose IB-JSA could be his only hope if eveything else fails provided he passes habitual residence?

I really appreciate your help.

Bea

Hi

Tricky one.

Article 17 para 1(a) of 2004/38/EC and regulation 1408/71 (or whatever it is pretending to be these days 883 something or other).

the retirement pension from France should be fully exportable to another EEA member state as far as i am aware.  As ours is.  France will be the compentant state if that is where he last worked.

I know nothing about the French benefit system however under the co-ordination rules some benefits may be exportable from there to here and we can export some there.  It may be worth him seeking advice from an advisor in France, if there is such a thing.

Unless he (or his wife) exercises treaty rights (ie is a worker, etc) then it is probably goning to be difficult (if not impossible) to claim benefits here.  You may be able to argue dependancy on teh daughter if she is execising treaty rights, however on teh facts this appears a very silm chance.

Hope this gives you somewhere to start

Hi Mathew,
Thanks for your reply, I really appreciate your time.
I hadn’t thought about dependancy on his daughter and it’s certainely something I will explore now. The most obvious benefit, in my opinion, would be State Retirement Pension as his French State Pension should be fully exportable under the Regulation you mention (833/04 which replaces 1408/71) but there is a very big question mark regarding the fact that client is not yet of pension age under the UK system. I have tried to phone the exportability team on 0191 218777 but they were extremely unhelpful and all they could say was that he couldn’t export his French pension until he was 65. Now, because I don’t just trust anybody who works for DWP especially when they give such a definite answer to a potentially complicated issue, I’m left wondering what to advise the client. If I advise him to give it a go and try to export his pension, the payments from France will stop and he may be left with nothing. If it is a contentious issue, then we may have months of litigation ahead which again leaves the client with no income.
In terms of contribution-based benefits, such as ESA, he would not satisfy the contribution conditions.
Perhaps the safest option is for him to claim IB-JSA at the couple’s rate, which would give him worker’s status and also allow him to go on the Homelink scheme (he also needs to find a place to live). He was retired on medical grounds, though, so it’s not ideal for him to be on JSA.
Any thoughts?
Bea
x