Foreign Big Issue sellers entitled to claim housing benefit after landmark ruling
FOREIGN Big Issue sellers will be entitled to claim housing benefit after a woman living in Barton Hill won a landmark legal case.
Romanian Firuta Vasile, 27, contested Bristol City Council's ruling that she was ineligible for the benefit.
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The council argued immigrants from the European Union should only receive the handout if they are in work, and that selling The Big Issue on the street "didn't count" as a proper job.
However, a court found she should be entitled to the benefit because selling the homelessness charity's magazine is a form of self-employment. The ruling means EU nationals selling The Big Issue across the UK are now entitled to claim housing benefit.
Ms Vasile, who has four children, one of whom is severely disabled, says the benefit will help her pay her rent and look after her family.
Speaking through an interpreter, she said: "I came to the UK in 2007 to look for work. The only work I could find was selling The Big Issue on the streets of Bristol. I can keep half of the money I take and I usually make around £100 per week.
"This isn't enough to meet all my family's needs so I asked the council for housing benefit to help with my rent. My claim was turned down.
"I was told that because I am Romanian I could not get benefits unless I have a job or I am in self-employment. They said work for The Big Issue didn't count.
"I got legal support and was helped with an appeal. My adviser got lots of evidence that selling The Big Issue really is self-employment. We won the appeal at a local tribunal last year but the council appealed.
"The case was taken to the upper tribunal last week and we won. I am really pleased if this decision means that people from countries like Romania and Bulgaria who come to the UK to work hard are not treated unfairly."
Ms Vasile's case was taken up by welfare benefits adviser Andy King, of Stokes Croft-based Avon and Bristol Law Centre. He said: "The judge ruled that working as a Big Issue vendor is self employment and European Union nationals can claim benefits as long as they work enough hours and sell enough Big Issues.
"This is a great victory for people struggling to work to support their families. If people are willing and able to work, we need to encourage them to do so.
"Anyone who thinks selling The Big Issue on a British street in winter is a soft option should have a go themselves".
Stephen Robertson, chief executive of The Big Issue Foundation, said: "Big Issue vendors use their own money to buy their magazines and sell them at their own profit or loss.
"It is by no means an easy task. I am pleased that this ruling represents an important acceptance of the challenges and the opportunities that the magazine mechanism represents for people regardless of where they come from."
47 Comments
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by kingswoodkid
Saturday, January 21 2012, 2:32AM
“well said curlytop 66 she is not homeless , or unemplyed , she should not get the benefits shes getting and i guess having a disabled son she gets extra benefits ? i hope this women has shout herself in the foot and some one loks into her claims , ive bought big issues in the past but will not again and i urge other not to as well”
by Curlytop66
Friday, January 20 2012, 3:43PM
“If she is paying rent she is not homeless and therefore does not qualify to be a Big Issue seller.
If the Council now says she is self-employed as a Big Issue seller then she isn't unemployed and therefore doesn't qualify to be a Big Issue seller.
Simple give the rented property to someone more deserving without a job”
by acjbbc
Friday, January 20 2012, 2:29PM
“Listen - I agree with everything people are saying in relation to these benefit payments being vastly excessive. They definitely make the £100 a week that Firuta is earning just look like a ticket to a much higher wage (i.e. £25k in benefits) , and that make no sense to anyone. She's earning far more than me, and I work over fifty hours a week! But surely, it's British policy makers that deserve the blame - it's they that put out the honey pot, take off the lid and then everyone's surprised when the bees come. We cannot blame the roma in this respect - which of us, if we lived in the sort of squalor they do in Romania, hearing of these amounts available in another country, wouldn't be off like a shot? Both for the sake of ourselves and our families? And that's the thing - I know Firuta's family well, having worked with them on a voluntary basis for almost three years, and I would say that the transformation of her disabled son, from a badly-ill, shadow of a kid two years ago to the much stronger, happier young lad of today is something of which British people should be proud and not ashamed”
by kingswoodkid
Thursday, January 19 2012, 1:08AM
“well waht alucky women ive worked from 15 to 50 and im hounded at the job center to get a job i have had my money stopped because they said i was not looking hard enough , i write of for jobes everydy and go to the job center 3 or more times week can some one tell me how to get a job selling the big issue”
by TAFFYINEXILE
Wednesday, January 18 2012, 8:03PM
“Can some one explain this one too me please-"I am really pleased if this decision means that people from countries like Romania and Bulgaria who come to the UK to work hard are not treated unfairly."
As that is her definition of fair GOD HELP US . Dont forget also - the Police protect her , the NHS treat her and all her 4 children get free education as well . I doubt in "her home country " i would be treated that fairly . And before every "jumps on me" , we as a country should do all the last three. We should look after asylum seekers , not economic migrigants. Does the tax man check this "about " a hundred pound a week , us on PAYE dont have a choice - IS THAT FAIR !”
by Baboonsass
Wednesday, January 18 2012, 7:21PM
“F#@king joke, got made redundant, and had all benefits stopped, why because, I had been working for 30 years paying tax an N.I and deemed not needy enough. my wife works part time, and we've got 3 children. Council tax credits were stopped as they said, "my child tax credits were classed as an income. I can understand ,(but don't agree with) the rise in EDL and BNP, popularity when you read stories like this, as well as that hate preacher Abu qatada, can't be deported because of his human rights.
we,(not just english, but british) are fast becoming an extinct race, our countries heritage, history and finances being drained by people like this.”
by Maximus2012
Wednesday, January 18 2012, 4:38PM
“Good result. Congratulations to Firuta for winning the case. At least now she can feed her family a bit more.”
by KNIGEL
Wednesday, January 18 2012, 3:51PM
“Maybe there are clones?”
by laner73
Wednesday, January 18 2012, 3:05PM
“She was outside Aldi in Bradley Stoke just before christmas aswell”
by TonyRiyadh
Wednesday, January 18 2012, 3:00PM
“I am sure I saw her on the train to London. In first class eating and kingsized mars bar and swigging from a bi bottle of pepsi!”