As outlined in previous bulletins, the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), the AIRE Centre in London, and a Dutch consultant in the Netherlands have been involved in a 15-month EU Commission funded Tri-City project on EU migrants' access to special non-contributory benefits. The payments are listed in Annex X of EC Regulation 883/04 in the three cities. The relevant social welfare payments in Ireland are Jobseekers' Allowance, State Pension (non-contributory), Widow's and Widower's (non-contributory) Pension, Disability Allowance, Mobility Allowance and Blind Pension.
During the course of the project three roundtables were held in London, Dublin and the Hague. The project culminated in a final conference in London in February 2013 which brought together project staff, experts in the field of social welfare law, practitioners and NGO benefits advisors. Materials from the various events can be found here.
A report on the Tri-city project is now available and a new EU Benefits Adviser website was launched following the conference. It provides a questionnaire which can be used by individuals and their representatives to determine the individual's eligibility for welfare benefits in Ireland, the UK or the Netherlands and is available in a number of European languages.
Click here to read the report in full
Click here to view the EU Benefits Adviser website