Government strengthens rules on access to council housing

Date published: 20/04/2006

The Government has strengthened the rules on access to council housing and homelessness assistance in England for persons from abroad.

The new amending regulations come into force on 20 April, and will ensure that nationals from the European Economic Area (EEA) who do not have a right to reside in the UK are not eligible for council housing and homelessness assistance in England.

This will close a loophole arising from a recent Appeal Court ruling (London Borough of Barnet v Abdi and Ismail) which found that the applicants, who were both economically inactive EEA nationals, were subject to immigration control as they did not have a right to reside in the UK under European law. This meant that contrary to the understanding of the Government and local authorities the applicants were eligible for homelessness assistance under the housing rules which apply to persons subject to immigration control.

The new regulations mean that the position will be as intended by the Government when it introduced measures to strenghten the rules in May 2004, and will help ensure that people cannot come to the United Kingdom simply to claim assistance from the welfare system.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said:

"These new regulations are a swift response to the court judgment and return us to the policy that was intended."

The new measures help support the Government's policy of opening up the UK labour market to workers from all countries within the EEA, whilst ensuring that those who do not have a right to reside here do not have access to benefits such as social housing at the UK taxpayer's expense.