Court allows cross-border benefit claim

A LANDMARK ruling by the European Court of Justice has opened the way for thousands of EC citizens to apply for British social security benefits, even if they live outside the UK.

The ruling affects families who stay behind in their native countries while their breadwinners travel to Britain to work. The families will be able to claim benefits on offer to compensate for low income in Britain - such as Family Credit - with the money being sent to them abroad.

The decision is being studied urgently by ministers, anxious to prevent a flood of claims costing the Treasury millions of pounds.

Other countries, including Germany which backed Britain at the European Court, are also worried that the judgment could strain their social security budgets.

The ruling arose from an application for Family Credit by the wife of a civil servant who worked in Northern Ireland but lived in the Irish Republic. Officials said Rose Hughes, of Belturbet, Co Cavan, was not entitled to the pounds 36- a-week benefit because her home was outside the UK.

However, the Government's arguments were dismissed by the European Court, which said they would infringe freedom of movement for workers in the EC.

'It is immaterial for the purposes of the grant . . . that the worker's spouse has never been resident or employed in the Member State whose legislation is applicable,' the court said.

Under the ruling, any of the 35,000 EC citizens living in Britain who earn low incomes and have families abroad could encourage their partners to apply for benefits. Les Allamby, of Belfast Law Centre, which represented Mrs Hughes, said: 'This is an important test case as significant numbers of European Community migrant workers are found in low- paid employment.'

Lawyers said the ruling threw up a series of 'immeasurably complex issues'. At present, there is no provision for the cost of living to be taken into account when granting Family Credit, they said, raising the prospect of people in poorer EC countries receiving comparatively large benefits. It will also be difficult to verify claims. One lawyer said: 'How is the DSS going to check the income of someone in Greece or Portugal? It's a mess.'

However, welfare rights workers welcomed the decision, which they said could ease severe poverty for many families in the EC. They pointed out that British workers who found employment in other EC countries with superior social security systems, such as Germany and Denmark, could benefit from the judgment.

For Mrs Hughes, the ruling will mean Family Credit backdated to 1988, possibly running to pounds 10,000. Her husband, Brendan, who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture in Enniskellen, earned about pounds 140 a week at the time of the claim, which was not enough to support their three children still living at home, the family said.