Self-Sufficient Person

A self-sufficient person is a person who has pursuant to I(EEA) 2006, reg.4(1)(c): sufficient resources not to become a burden on the social assistance system of the UK during his period of residence; and comprehensive sickness insurance cover in the UK.

 

A self-sufficient person is most unlikely to be eligible under Part 7 because the need for social housing will mean that he has become a burden on the social assistance system of the UK and therefore cannot have a right to reside on the basis of self-sufficiency.

 

See also the guidance published by the European Communities on 2 July 2009 on the interpretation of the Directive in respect of insurance requirements. Para 2.3.2 provides that any insurance cover, public or private, contracted in the host Member State or elsewhere, is acceptable in principle, as long as it provides comprehensive coverage and does not create a burden on the public finances of the host Member State.

 

On 2 July 2009 the Commission of the European Communities published guidance on the interpretation of the Directive. Paragraph 2.3.2 states that any insurance cover, private or public, contracted in the host Member State or elsewhere, is acceptable in principle, as long as it provides comprehensive coverage and does not create a burden on the public finances of the host Member State. This suggests that private health insurance may not be necessary, and raises the possibility that NHS cover is sufficient.      

In Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council [2010] UKUT 243, a Polish national who was receiving an invalidity pension from Sweden was held to have comprehensive sickness cover by virtue of Regulation 1408/71, now Regulation 883/04, because these provisions allowed the UK to claim back the cost of her NHS care from Sweden, however she did not have sufficient resources, taking into account her housing needs and the fact that her stay in the UK was intended to be permanent.

In SSWP v. SW UKUT 508the Upper Tribunal stated that a person could be self sufficient by virtue of being entitled to treatment under the National Health Service by virtue of satisfying the residence and presence conditions under domestic law.

However in Ahmad v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] 1 W.L.R. 593the Court of Appeal heldthat the right to a permanent residence card was a privilege which was not conferred unless there was strict and literal compliance with the conditions therein; that, therefore, “comprehensive sickness insurance cover” did not include the public healthcare system of the host state; and that, accordingly, where an EEA national entered the United Kingdom and was not involved in an economically active activity, her residence and that of her family members would not be lawful, if either wished to stay longer than three months, unless she had comprehensive sickness insurance cover while she was economically inactive in the five years following her arrival, and her family members would <not, therefore, qualify for permanent residency in the United Kingdom.

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