THE campaign for the reinstatement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) care component, carers and attendance allowance took a further step forward today with questions raised in the House, to the Work and Pensions Ministers, by Oliver Letwin (Con) and Roger Gale (Con), writes Tina Hamilton.
Mr Letwin’s question regarding when DLA was going to be paid to expatriates living in the EU was brushed aside by minister Tony McNulty with little comment, other than ‘I’ll get back to you’.
On the other hand, Roger Gale’s fuller question elicited an incredible bumbling answer by minister Rosie Winterton, which bore no relation to the situation as it stands in terms of current government policy.
A quick telephone call to the Department for Work and Pensions to clarify Ms Winterton’s statement resulted in a completely different version of her answer, underlying a determined attempt by the government to further delay in acting on the ruling by the European Court of Justice (Case C-299/05).
Further information on the campaign to reinstate benefits can be read on the campaign’s Facebook page.
While individuals affected by the loss of benefits since moving to another EU country are urged to sign the campaign petition.
Comments
19 responses to “Benefit fight raised in Westminster”
UPDATE: Roger Gale is tabling a written question to Minister for Works and Pensions, Jonathan Shaw, for clarification of Ms Winterton’s nonsensical reply. Oliver Letwin is also writing to the minister on this issue. Shadow Minister for Works and Pensions, Mark Harper, is also involved in the case.
I think this ignorant minister and her PM need reminding that we can all still vote – and will with a vengance at the earliest opportunity.
On an only slightly different subject, I fail to understand how Brussels did not include the mobility component of DLA in its judgement – does everyone become suddenly mobile on leaving UK shores?
I have no doubt that a lot of people will be putting their ‘X’ in an alternative box to that of Labour at the next general election :))
Re the mobility component – this is indeed a complex issue, outlined in the judgement which I will post onto our Facebook campaign page shortly for those interested in reading it.
Another PQ tabled for Monday 9 February:
Mr Roger Gale (North Thanet): To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to which allowances and benefits UK citizens living in other EU member states and Switzerland may be entitled; and when the Government plans to implement the decisions of the European Court of Justice on the matter.
Yesterday, Works and Pensions Minister Rosie Winterton sent a reworded answer to Roger Gale’s PQ of 2 February 2009. The pdf of Ms Winterton’s letter can be downloaded at: http://www.paysansgrigny.com/dla-campaign.html
Roger has also advised us this morning that: “Mark Harper and Oliver Letwin have both been made aware of this correction and they will now be joining me in pressing for an urgent statement to clarify the UK government`s position in relation to the ECJ judgement. Until this response is received we cannot, of course, take the matter (if necessary) back to Europe.”
(NOTE: Representatives of the British Expats Association (Spain) have already taken the non-compliance issue back to the European Commission and are still awaiting a response).
UPDATE: have been in contact with someone who has successfully had their benefit reinstated and back-dated, in accordance with the ECJ ruling. Seems that things are on the move!
Hi Tina, thanks for keeping us up to date, looks as though the government is beginning to weaken.
All the best, Craig
We have received a response to our email to Exportability Team sent 9 days ago (so quick are their reactions!). It is full of the usual rhetoric regarding how the DWP is still “examining the legal implications of the ECJ ruling” – and tries to explain the success of one applicant’s reinstatement of benefit and backpay as “as everyone’s circumstances differ and it may be that we were able to reinstate their case”.
So much for progress!
Along with fellow campaigners, both here in France and in Spain, we are asking affected parties to help us increase the pressure on the government to comply with the ECJ ruling.
We would like anyone who has a claim outstanding to re-contact the Exportability Team and request reinstatement of their claim. In addition the email should be copied to both Ms Winterton’s office and the DWP Customer Services department. Full instructions and email addresses are in a document “bombard_instructions.doc” that can be downloaded from: http://www.paysansgrigny.com/dla-campaign.html
Many thanks in advance.
received this today:
I am writing with further information about the European judgement which affects the payment of disability benefits abroad.
The European Court of Justice decided on 18 October 2007 that certain UK disability benefits are to be considered sickness benefits. This means that they will be paid to some people who leave the UK to live in another European Economic Area (EEA) state or Switzerland.
The decision affects:
• Disability Living Allowance (care component only)
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
The mobility component of Disability Living Allowance has not been affected by this judgement and the usual rules will continue to apply.
Eligibility criteria
The Department for Work and Pensions has now released further details of the main groups of customers who may continue to receive disability benefits if they move to live in another EEA state or Switzerland. This information can be found by accessing the website: http://www.direct.gov.uk.
Unfortunately we cannot yet make decisions on claims from customers who are already living in another EEA state or Switzerland. The Department for Work and Pensions is still considering the legal implications of paying the benefit to people who are already living in another EEA state or Switzerland who wish to claim from abroad, either for the first time or from people who have received a disability benefit in the past which stopped when they moved to another EEA state or Switzerland.
If you wish us to contact you when further information is available, please write to us with you full name, date of birth and national insurance number. We do not advise our customers to put this information in an e-mail as we can not guarantee the security of your Internet Service Provider.
Yours sincerely,
DLA/AA Exportability Team
Many thanks for posting the Exportability Team’s response to your enquiry. Unfortunately this is the bog-standard reply (most of it directly copied from the direct.gov website) that they are using to try and put people off from pursuing their claim.
As part of our email “bombing campaign”, our supporters are forwarding this derogatory reply directly to the DWP Customer Services (dcpu.customer-services@dwp.gsi.gov.uk) as part of a formal complaints procedure against the Exportability Team’s handling of the situation. There are no ‘legal implications’ to examine in respect to the ECJ ruling… it is just the government’s way of saying “we don’t give a damn about disabled Brits living abroad”.
kind regards, Tina
Like many others, we have kept bombarding Blackpool for the last 16months and get the same standard reply as has our old English MP (liberal) Lets hope this arrogant government will pay those who deserve it.
Hi Chris
Well, its been a week since the government put the eligibility criteria up for exportability by those of us living overseas – don’t know of anyone who has actually received the forms (or reinstatement of benefit) yet.
We are also waiting for a response from Jonathan Shaw in respect to back-payments.
I will put any updates on http://dla-ecj.weebly.com/
kind regards, Tina
Latest reply to PQ re eligibility criteria:
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 24 February 2009, Official Report, column 22WS, on disability benefits, what changes his Department has made to the eligibility criteria for payment of disability benefits as a consequence of the consideration of the European Court of Justice decision of 18 October 2007. [260373]
Jonathan Shaw: There have been no changes to the eligibility criteria for payment of disability benefits applied domestically, as a consequence of the European Court of Justice judgment of 18 October 2007.
For people going to live or already living in another European economic area (EEA) state or Switzerland, their claims must be considered under the provisions of the sickness benefit chapter of the European Regulation 1408/71. For these customers, the ordinary residence and presence conditions, which apply domestically, are not applied. Other domestic conditions of entitlement, such as the disability conditions and the past presence test, still apply. The latter test, under domestic legislation, requires a customer to be present in Great Britain for not less than 26 out of the last 52 weeks and it applies for every day that a customer claims benefit. However, for people going to live or already living in another EEA state or Switzerland, the test has been modified: for customers taking the benefit away with them, it is last applied on the date of ‘export’ and for customers claiming from another EEA state or Switzerland it is applied only once, on the date on which entitlement to benefit can be established.
Hi Tina I have received a form from exportability to apply for attendance allowance in answer to my email asking for reinstatement of the DLA care component. This form states ‘if you have spent less than 26 weeks out of the last 52 in the UK’ your claim is unlikely to be successful. I am not asking for attendance allowance, where do I go from here?
A help sheet has been produced from the discussion on the Complete France forum, in respect to this campaign.
Help Sheet 1 is available on http://dla-ecj.weebly.com/downloads.html and contains information about the ECJ ruling, filling in the DLA EXP 1 form, appeals and tribunals… and lots more.
If anyone wishes to read more about the discussion on the forum follow the link:
http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/35/995954/ShowPost.aspx#995954
You will need to sign up to the forum to contribute with your own thoughts etc.
Kind regards, Tina
Gale’s View – 15th April, 2009. (Roger GAle’s constituent newsletter raising the issue of Brits abroad)
I have, during the Easter break, met with a group of retired ex-patriate UK citizens. They include some of my own constituents and although they are far too proud to ever admit it some of them are clearly suffering, as a result of our disastrous economic situation, the same financial embarrassment that faces many of those living on restricted retirement incomes at home in North Thanet.
The situation facing those living in France and Spain, for example, is exacerbated by the fact that our Government has been denying to them the “exportable” UK benefits to which the European Court of Justice has determined that they are entitled.
Before we proceed further I am aware that there are those who are sufficiently mean-spirited to suggest that “it’s their fault that they are living abroad and we should not be bothering with them or paying for them”. The implication, of course, is that this community is rich, living in Chateaux or Villas and spending its days playing bridge and drinking gin and tonic or champagne. Those who hold to this view will no doubt wish to consider that it is also their “fault” that the majority of UK ex-pats have spent most or all of their working lives in the UK, have paid their taxes and insurance contributions in full throughout their working lives and in some cases are still paying UK taxes on state and occupational pensions. Many have, additionally, served their country in our armed forces.
They have seen the value of their incomes diminish, as have those of others with UK investments, and as the pound has fallen by a third against the Euro so has the buying power of their sterling state pensions fallen also. Some of these good people now need the support of disability living allowances, carers’ allowances and other benefits that ought to be theirs by right. There are also a hard-pressed few who, because of domestic circumstances, should rightfully be in receipt of Child Tax Credit.
Do we look after our own? It appears that we do not. In spite of the best efforts of Members on both sides of the House of Commons to secure, for our constituents, the help that they need the government has to date sought to wriggle free of the European Court finding that the relevant benefits are exportable and should be paid to UK citizens living elsewhere within the European Union or in Switzerland.
I mention this now because in a couple of months time we shall be required to elect our representatives to the European Parliament. I think that it is therefore not unreasonable ask why it is that while those who have paid their dues in England are being denied benefits because they are living in France or Spain or Greece, it is perfectly in order for EU citizens from the “new Europe” outside the United Kingdom, who have not paid a lifetimes taxes in Britain, to come to work here, claim family tax benefits and send that money back to support families that are not living in the UK but in another EU state. It is an equation that the ex-pat community, which has the right to vote in June and will most assuredly be casting those votes to elect UK MEPs, does not comprehend. And neither do I!
Alas after many years of emails/calls.tribunals etc, I finally got a letter from Judge Turnbull informing me I had my care component of DLA reinstaed and was ageed by secretary of state to run from 2005/2007 and possibly beyond.
The letter came may 20th 2010, so i called the DLA in Blackpool for update as well as sending an email, what did i I get the same old tonsels they will forward to the exportability dept mmmm think this new Government is as bad as the old one.
In one hand I am told the benefit has been reinstated and all was agreed by dwp/secretary of state.
These muppets at the DLA in Blackpool work from a script in otherwords I feel I am in for a further 5 year wait, by that time i may not be here
Port de soller mallorca
Hi Stuart, many thanks for your comment, it really has become a tale of disappointment for so many people. I hope things are sorted out soon. All the best, Craig