EU to take UK to court over migrant benefits

The UK is to be taken to the European Court of Justice over its alleged failure to correctly assess whether immigrants are entitled to benefits, BBC reports.

The European Commission has accused Britain of discriminating against nationals from EU member states who have been living and working in the UK.

It is alleged an extra test is applied to see if they are eligible to claim.

A British official told BBC he could not comment about court action until the commission made its decision public. He however said that the British test was a vital and fair tool to ensure benefits were paid only to people who were legally allowed to live in the UK.

The BBC understands that the commission is convinced the UK is breaking EU law and thousands of people may have been unfairly denied benefits as a result. The UK uses an additional test which the commission said was discriminatory and may have denied thousands of migrants access to benefits such as child tax credit.

In one case it is claimed an EU national who had been working and paying taxes in the UK was refused jobseekers' allowance after she was made redundant.

BBC Europe correspondent Matthew Price, in Brussels, said it was unusual for such cases to be brought before the European Court and it could take years for a final judgement.