Transcript AIRE Centre Tri-City Project

AIRE Centre Tri-City Project:
Benefits, Payments and
Challenges in the Irish Social
Welfare Context
Saoirse Brady
Policy and Advocacy Officer
FLAC
1 March 2012
What is FLAC?
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An independent human rights organisation
Dedicated to the realisation of equal access to
justice for all using the law as a way to achieve
change
Established in 1969 by law students to campaign for
the introduction of a comprehensive civil legal aid
scheme
Campaigns on a range of legal issues but also offers
some basic, free legal services to the public.
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Ways in which FLAC works
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Lo-call information line in Dublin office
• Receives more than 10,000 queries from general public
or other bodies including CICs, NGOs, advocates
Advice Centres
• First stop legal advice given by approx. 600 qualified
lawyers who volunteer in 92 centres in 81 locations
nationwide.
Provides legal information
• Web resources
• Information sheets or ‘FLACsheets’
Strategic casework
• Limited but ongoing cases
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Social Welfare Law Reform as
Key Priority Area
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Reports
• Analysis of Direct Provision system for asylum seekers
published in 2010
• Currently working on report on the social welfare
appeals process
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Policy submissions
• Social Welfare legislation
• Pre-Budget submissions
• Briefings for domestic and international human rights
mechanisms
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Social Welfare Law Reform (2)
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Information guides
• Habitual Residence Condition
• Social welfare appeals Process
• Immigrants’ entitlements to social security (joint
publication)
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Strategic casework
• Application of Habitual Residence Condition to asylum
seekers
• Spouse of EU worker suffering domestic violence
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Second tier advice
• Citizens Information Centres
• NGOs working on social security issues
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Other Social Welfare Queries
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There were 282 social welfare queries and 220
immigration queries to information line in 2011
There were 131 queries in 2011 which required
second-tier advice given to:
• 29 individuals including former clients
• 19 different NGOs in 63 instances
• 8 Citizens Information Centres in 27 instances
• 12 other organisations such as UNHCR, the Office
of the Ombudsman, solicitors and consultants.
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EU Social Security Law Applicable to
Special Non-Contributory Benefits
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EC Regulation 883/04
• Coordination of social security systems
Article 70 defines Special Non-Contributory Benefit as:
• supplementary, substitute or ancillary cover against the risks
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covered by the branches of social security referred to in
Article 3(1), and which guarantee the persons concerned a
minimum subsistence income having regard to the
economic and social situation in the Member State
concerned
Non-exportable
Funded from general public expenditure – non-contributory
element
Residence is defined as habitual residence
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Irish Special Non-Contributory
Benefits Listed in Annex X
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Annex X of EC Regulation 883/04 lists the
following payments as SNCBs in Irish social
welfare system:
• Jobseekers Allowance
• State pension (non-contributory)
• Widow's and Widower's (non-contributory)
pensions
• Disability Allowance
• Mobility Allowance
• Blind Pension
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Implementation and
Administration of 883/04
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EC Regulation 987/09
• Implements Regulation 883/04
• Provides information on administration of social security
schemes in each Member State
Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social
Security
• Assists authorities in each Member State to apply 883/04
• Issues non-binding decisions on interpretation of
Regulations and cooperation between Member States
European Court of Justice decisions overrule any
interpretation of Administrative Commission
(See http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Policy/EU/Euguide/Documents/Part2.pdf for
more information)
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Possible introduction of Single
Working-Age Payment
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Discussed at Joint Oireachtas Committee in January 2012
Working Group to report to Troika at end of March 2012
Proposed payment would replace:
• Jobseekers Allowance
• Disability Allowance
• One Parent Family Payment
• Farm Assist
• Blind Pension
• Widow(er)’s Non-Contributory Pension
• Carer’s Allowance
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EU Directive 2004/38
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Citizens Directive
• Right of EU citizens and family members to move and reside
freely within territory of EU Member States
• May apply in this context to primary carer of EU citizen child,
the spouse of an EU worker including victims of domestic
violence etc.
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Transposed into Irish law by Statutory Instrument 656/2006
European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) (No
2) Regulations 2006
• For more information on the transposition of Citizens Directive into
Irish law see:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/doc_centre/citizenship/movement/do
c/ireland_compliance_study_en.pdf
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Habitual Residence Condition
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Applied to all special non-contributory benefits
Introduced in May 2004 in light of EU enlargement
• Section 246 of Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 – the
Principal Act
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Case C-90/97 Swaddling v. Adjudication Officer – five
factors included in Social Welfare and Pensions Act
2007:
• (a) length and continuity of residence in the State or in any other
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particular country;
(b) length and purpose of any absence from the State;
(c) nature and pattern of the person’s employment;
(d) person’s main centre of interest; and
(e) future intentions of the person concerned as they appear
from all the circumstances
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Right to Reside Test
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Introduced in December 2009
• Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Act 2009
Persons listed in legislation as having a right to
reside include:
• Irish citizens
• British nationals
• EU workers or EU nationals who meet certain criteria
• Convention or Programme refugees, their families and
dependents
• Persons granted leave to remain or subsidiary
protection
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Current Issues Arising for
EU Migrants living in Ireland
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Failure to accept applications for payments
• Verbal refusals
Misapplication or misunderstanding of the Habitual
Residence Condition
• 2 year rule or set timeframe being incorrectly applied
• Emphasis on employment requirement – not taking into
account other factors
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Particular issues regarding access of Romanian and
Bulgarian migrants due to work permit restrictions
Misunderstanding by officials of applicable EU legislation
and case-law
• EU workers and jobseekers
• Victims of domestic violence
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Delays in Appeals System
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Consistently high rate of success on appeal suggests
need for better first-instance decision- making
• 42 per cent success rate on appeal in 2010
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Delays in processing of appeals by Social Welfare
Appeals Office
• High volume of appeals – approx. 34000 in 2011
• Average processing times in 2011 were 25 weeks for
summary decision and 52.4 weeks for decision when
oral hearing involved (Response to PQ by Catherine
Murphy TD, 26 January 2012)
• Figures above include average processing time of 13.7
weeks for Department of Social Protection processes
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SNCBs – Applications and
Appeals Awaiting Decision
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Figures taken from response by Minister for Social
Protection to a PQ on 23 November 2011
Payment
Jobseekers Allowance
Appeals
Appeals awaiting
Applications
Outstanding as
decision at
received to 31/10/11 percentage of
31/10/2011
applications
3,945
204,166
2%
State Pension (N-C)
197
5,906
3%
Widow(er)’s Pension
(N-C)
22
492
5%
Disability Allowance
3,238
20,457
16%
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185
8%
Blind Pension
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Return of Destitute EU12
Accession State Nationals
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Destitute EU Nationals
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368 people returned from 1 January to 31 October 2011 (548 total in
2010)
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Referred to the Reception and Integration Agency by Homeless Person’s Unit
or Gardai and assessed by Asylum Seeker and New Communities Unit
226 to Romania (61.4 per cent)
54 to Poland (14.7 per cent)
27 to Latvia (7.3 per cent)
23 to Slovakia (6.3 per cent)
19 to Lithuania (5.2 per cent)
Others (5.2 per cent)
What safeguards are in place to ensure that people are not returned
where they are awaiting a decision on appeal or have been wrongly
refused payments?
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More Information
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See our website www.flac.ie and www.airecentre.org
Sign up to PILA Bulletin at www.pila.ie
For more information on Irish social security schemes see
www.welfare.ie
For information on social welfare appeals see
www.socialwelfareappeals.ie
For information on EU social security coordination see
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/internal_market/living_a
nd_working_in_the_internal_market/c10521_en.htm and
http://www.tress-network.org/
For statistics on return of EU12 Accession State Nationals see:
http://www.ria.gov.ie/en/RIA/Pages/2011_Statistics
For Parliamentary Questions see www.oireachtas.ie and
www.kildarestreet.com
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