Fratila & Anor v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] UKSC 53 (01 December 2021)
Citation:Fratila & Anor v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] UKSC 53 (01 December 2021).
Subjects invoked: 1. 'Nation'.97. 'Social Security'.
Rule of thumb:Can immigrants who come to the UK, including from the EU, sign on the social security/ Universal Credit system? No, EU nationals or otherwise, who arrived after the Brexit Act, are now no longer entitled to claim Universal Credit in the UK. EU nationals who arrived before Brexit may still be entitled to keep being paid social security benefits – this matter was not decided in this case and had still to be heard.
Background facts:
This case invoked the subjects of public international law and social security law.
The material facts of this case were that Fratila, an EU national from Romania, tried to claim Universal Credit/ job-seekers allowance in the UK. After Brexit, the UK social security refused to keep paying this.
Judgment:
The Court upheld the decision of the Department of Social Security that EU nationals, who arrived after the Brexit Act, were now no longer entitled to claim Universal Credit in the UK. EU nationals who arrived before Brexit may still be entitled to keep being paid social security benefits – this matter was not decided in this case and had still to be heard.
The Court held that after ‘Brexit’, enacted through the EU Withdrawal Act 2018, UK law once again has supremacy over EU law generally, except for the areas stated in the 2018 Act in which EU law still has supremacy over UK law. EU law no longer supremacy to UK law generally like it had before Brexit, and EU law only continues to have supremacy over UK law in some exceptional areas expressly laid out in the 2018 Act.
Ratio-decidendi:
‘… by virtue of articles 86(2) and 89(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement, which has domestic effect by virtue of section 7A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018… They cannot therefore rely on the EU principle of non-discrimination to claim a right to equal treatment in respect of entitlement to universal credit’, Lord Lloyd Jones at 8-12
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.