EU Benefits - Country By Country

12th July 2014

Full list at the link.

Health care and child, unemployment and housing benefit a 30-year-old single EU migrant with a child but no job can access in each member state:


AUSTRIA
Health care Available immediately, but only if you pay “social insurance”
Child benefit Immediate payment of £89 per month
Unemployment benefit Only available to people who have paid social insurance
Housing benefit No equivalent scheme


BULGARIA
Health care Free emergency care immediately; other treatments only available if you pay social insurance
Child benefit Targeted schemes restricted to Bulgarian citizens
Unemployment benefit Minimum of nine months of working in the country required to qualify
Housing benefit Immediate monthly allowance buzt only if you have a local authority home already


CZECH REPUBLIC
Health care Available immediately but cash charges apply
Child benefit £23 a month available immediately
Unemployment benefit 12-month minimum qualifying period
Housing benefit Available immediately


ESTONIA
Health care Available immediately but cash payments required for some treatments
Child benefit £16 per month available immediately
Unemployment benefit £12.50 per week available immediately
Housing benefit No equivalent scheme


GREECE
Health care 100 days of work required to qualify
Child benefit No equivalent scheme
Unemployment benefit Minimum of six months of work required to qualify
Housing benefit No equivalent scheme


HUNGARY
Health care Not immediately available
Child benefit £40.60 per month available immediately
Unemployment benefit Minimum qualifying period of 360 days
Housing benefit No equivalent scheme


UNITED KINGDOM
Health care Available immediately and free of charge under the National Health Service
Child benefit Paid immediately if the child is under 16, or 16 to 19 and in education or training, and the claimant has an individual income of less than £50,000. Amount is £20.30 a week for the eldest or only child, £13.40 per additional child
Unemployment benefit Immediate payment of £71.70 a week in Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) after proving you are actively seeking work. EU migrants have to pass the “right-to-reside” test to show they are “economically active”. The European Commission wants to abolish this test. There is also contribution-based additional JSA which is only available after working for at least two years.
Housing benefit Available immediately if you are on a low income, whether you are working or unemployed.
How much depends on individual circumstances, but amount cannot normally exceed £250 per week for a one-bedroom property, or up to £400 a week for four bedrooms or more


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/10391238/Benefits-in-Europe-country-by-country.html

Makes you sick doesn't it...!?

Tommy Monk wrote:Makes you sick doesn't it...!?

But at least we can also go and live in their country, so apparently it's all equal.

  

One way traffic.....

Tommy Monk wrote:One way traffic.....

Surely benefits should be the same throughout the organisation they call the EU!

BigAndy9 wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:One way traffic.....

Surely benefits should be the same throughout the organisation they call the EU!

Please dont fall for that trick Andy - that is exactly the path the EU wants to go down and it will mean there will no longer be a Britain or a France or a Germany or any other European nation.

sphinx wrote:

BigAndy9 wrote:


Surely benefits should be the same throughout the organisation they call the EU!

Please dont fall for that trick Andy - that is exactly the path the EU wants to go down and it will mean there will no longer be a Britain or a France or a Germany or any other European nation.

Errr no, i just want out.

In the meantime, i want all of our money back!

The benefits that EU migrants can claim in another EU country vary across the 28-nation bloc, but certain basic rules are enshrined in EU law.

The issue has become a hot topic in the UK because in January the remaining labour market restrictions on citizens of Bulgaria and Romania will be removed across the EU. After EU enlargement in 2004 the UK experienced a far greater influx of East Europeans than had been anticipated.

Can EU migrants easily claim benefits when they arrive in another EU country?

No - there are conditions, depending on an individual's circumstances.

They can stay for three months, but to stay longer after that they have to be: in work; or actively seeking work with a genuine chance of being hired; or be able to show they have enough money not to be a burden on public services. Apart from that, evidence of benefit abuse or fraud is grounds to exclude or expel a person.

If an EU migrant has permission to stay, can he or she then claim benefits?

Not automatically - a migrant still has to pass a "habitual residence test" under EU law.

The test covers factors such as the duration of the migrant's stay; their activity, including their source of income if they are students; their family status; and their housing situation. The migrant has to demonstrate a sufficient degree of attachment to the host country. The amount of time already spent in the country is not sufficient qualification in itself.

If a jobseeker satisfies the test in the UK then that person can claim Jobseekers Allowance - up to £71 ($116) weekly for a single person, £111.45 for a couple.

An EU migrant who is in work in the UK, or self-employed, and who passes the test, can claim housing benefit and council tax benefit. The amounts vary, depending on the local authority.

The UK applies an additional "right to reside" test, going beyond the standard EU test. The European Commission says the UK test is unfair and has taken the UK to the European Court of Justice over it. The Commission argues that EU migrant workers, who have paid UK taxes, should not be subject to the extra test in order to claim certain benefits.

Are EU migrants entitled to the same benefits as citizens of the host country?

Yes, if they are workers or self-employed - and their family members are entitled too. However, access to certain benefits can depend on the amount of time a worker has been paying contributions. So a native of the host country may have more entitlements.

Jobless migrants are not entitled to the same range of benefits - mainly those which are funded from salary contributions. Workers pay social security contributions, to cover sickness, unemployment, maternity or paternity, invalidity or occupational injuries.
Migration to key EU countries - graph



The graph above includes jobseekers. Per head of population Ireland had the biggest influx of East Europeans after EU enlargement in 2004, but the UK took in the biggest numbers. Net migration to the UK from EU states in Eastern Europe reached nearly 400,000 in 2004-2011.

Is the UK benefits system more generous than those in other EU countries?

The systems are very diverse, so comparisons are difficult.

In terms of total spending on social security per inhabitant, the UK does not rank highest. In the UK the figure for 2010 was nearly 8,000 euros (£6,660; $10,880), the EU statistics agency Eurostat reports. In France and Germany it was nearly 9,000 euros, while in Denmark and the Netherlands it was above 10,000. At the other end of the scale, spending in Bulgaria and Romania was below 2,000 euros.

The Open Europe think-tank, campaigning for radical reform of the EU, says some countries have more flexibility than the UK in the area of "social assistance" benefits. Such benefits - targeting people in need - are usually means-tested and come out of general taxation, rather than salary contributions. In the UK, income support and housing benefit fall into that category.

In the UK, a bigger portion of welfare is funded by the state than is the case in Poland, France, Germany or the Netherlands. In those countries, more is funded from individual and employer contributions. In other words, more benefits are linked to previous earnings.

On the other hand, in several countries, including the Republic of Ireland, Sweden and Denmark, the share of state funding is higher than in the UK.

In Germany, there is a two-tier welfare system - part based on contributions, part non-contributory. An EU migrant made jobless in Germany would get up to 70% of current salary in the first year of unemployment. After that, the unemployed go onto a non-contributory system called Hartz IV. Germany has objected to paying those benefits to EU migrants who have not made sufficient contributions through work. But that policy has been challenged in the courts.

In Spain, welfare payments depend to a large extent on where you live as payments are handled regionally, rather than centrally. In Madrid there is a two-year residency test for RMI, which is paid to unemployed jobseekers. The benefits system in the Basque Country is rather less restrictive.

In Bulgaria, the EU's poorest country, you do not qualify for unemployment benefit unless you have been working for at least nine of the last 15 months.

Many German farms rely on seasonal workers from Eastern Europe

What about healthcare?

Under EU law, EU citizens visiting for short periods can receive basic and emergency care with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

It is the host country's responsibility to get the treatment costs reimbursed by the health service in the patient's home state. The UK government says the National Health Service needs to do more to get such costs reimbursed.

The UK is not the only EU member state to have a free, "universalist" health service, funded by taxpayers. Scandinavian countries have similar models, but most EU countries fund healthcare through medical insurance systems.

At least 400,000 Britons live in Spain full-time, a quarter of them pensioners, and they have free access to Spanish local doctors. The Spanish health service recovers the cost of their hospital treatment from the NHS - unless they have permanent residence status, in which case Spain pays for it.