Terms & Conditions

[Peter Barker]

This is because of the EU co-ordination regulation 883/2004. It still applies to anyone who was already within its scope before Brexit.

PIP(dl) and PIP(m) are different categories of benefit. PIP(m) is a “special non-contributory benefit” which is always the responsibility of the state of residence, whereas PIP(dl) is a sickness benefit. If a person receives a pension from a member state, that same state is responsible for sickness benefits including PIP(dl). So I would guess your claimant has some kind of long term pension from Romania, which means that he is eligible for any Romanian sickness benefits in place of PIP(dl). Whether he actually gets such a benefit, or whether it even exists, I don’t know. It is the Romanian pension that prevents him from getting PIP(dl), not any PIP equivalent that he gets alongside the pension.

If he is getting something analogous to PIP(dl) from Romania, Article 5 of Reg 883/2004 says:

“where, under the legislation of the competent Member State, the receipt of social security benefits and other income has certain legal effects, the relevant provisions of that legislation shall also apply to the receipt of equivalent benefits acquired under the legislation of another Member State or to income acquired in another Member State”

HB itself is not within the scope of the coordination rules, but I think it could be argued that Article 5 applies to all legal effects, not just legal effects on benefits covered by that regulation. Which would mean you treat the Romanian benefit as if it were PIP(dl) for HB purposes. But that’s only if he is getting it in the first place.