Asylum Seekers Entitled to Backdated Child Tax Credits

London: HMRC was wrong to refuse a backdated claim for child tax credits for asylum seekers who had been granted refugee status, a judge in the Court of Session has ruled in the first successful social security test case for asylum seekers and tax credits in the UK. Although tax credits were abolished and replaced with Universal Credit on 1 February 2019, the law provided that particular groups of claimants – including asylum seekers – had preserved rights if their claim was for a period that included 31 January 2019. UK social security law preserved the right to claim child tax credits from the original date of a claim for asylum in the UK, so long as a claim was made within one month of the date of refugee status.

HMRC argued that no such claim could ever be made as it was no longer possible to claim tax credits since the roll out of Universal Credit. Lord Tyre disagreed.

Read more: Scottish Legal News, https://is.gd/ebeUhY