UK to be taken to European Court of Justice over immigrants' benefits

PanARMENIAN.Net - 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 News reported.

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 said he could not comment about court action until the commission made its decision public.

But the official added 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 commission will announce it is taking Britain to the court in Luxembourg because of the way it assess whether EU nationals are entitled to benefits.