Woman’s benefit pay denied for 18 months

A destitute woman was offered a one-way train ticket to Belfast by social welfare officials after being denied benefits to which she was legally entitled.

The Irish citizen became homeless, was seen scavenging in bins for food, and was malnourished as a result of being denied the payments for 18 months.

Mary (not her real name), grew up in the North, but moved to the Republic in 2009.

After completing a full- time training course, she was unable to find a job and applied for supplementary welfare allowance. She was judged to have satisfied the habitual residency condition and, in May 2010, was awarded the payment. Three months later, she received rent allowance.

At the same time, Mary had applied for jobseeker’s allowance, but was refused on the basis that she did not satisfy the habitual residence condition.

Her appeal against this decision was rejected in Oct 2010, without reference to the fact that she was already deemed to have satisfied the habitual residence condition in order to receive her other payments.

The following month, after another review, all of Mary’s benefits were stopped. She was informed by letter that, among other factors, the decision was based on the fact she had lived most of her life in the North.

According to the Free Legal Advice Centre, who assisted Mary in appealing the decision, social welfare officials ignored the fact that she had spent all her life within the common travel area (CTA) between Ireland and Britain. Official guidelines state that periods of residence within the CTA should be treated the same as residence in Ireland for habitual residence purposes.

Social welfare officials also ignored the fact that, as an Irish citizen, Mary had a right to live in Ireland.

FLAC’s Michael O’Farrell said that the denial of payment had a devastating effect on Mary’s life. “It was a very distressing case,” said Mr O’Farrell. “When she came to us, she had been getting help from the Citizens Information Centre for quite some time.

“She was in a situation where she had no income and was malnourished as she had no money for food. She couldn’t deal with the case herself.”

Mary was denied the payments for 18 months. It was only after the CIC and FLAC managed to progress her case to the Chief Appeals Officer that the decision to stop her payments was overturned.