Reporting on the free movement of disability benefits

The free movement of citizens is one of the fundamental freedoms of the European Union but for many disabled people this movement presents real barriers because of the loss of entitlement to benefits and entitlements that support independence. There is great diversity in terms of the kinds of benefits provided; the value of those benefits; the way that impairment or disability is measured; the impairment level needed to qualify for comparable benefits; the assessment methods; and additional eligibility criteria. All of these factors make greater cross-border mutual recognition of disability status within the EU/EEA a complex challenge.
To protect and promote the free movement of disabled people and their families within the common market it is important to understand and develop the possibilities for greater recognition of entitlement between different jurisdictions. Member States are generally free to decide which benefits to make available to disabled people, and how to determine who is eligible for such benefits. Whilst EU law has established rules relating to the exportability of disability-related social security benefits, from one Member State to another, other types of benefits, have not been subject to such requirements. As a result, Member States have been free to limit entitlement to residents or to remove the benefit when a person moves to another Member State. On the other hand, EU law has also meant that EU citizens who are lawfully resident in another Member State, and in particular workers and their families and those with permanent residence rights, are entitled to claim disability-related benefits on the same terms as nationals.
Some countries have developed ways to recognize local entitlements through a national scheme. In some countries, a person can use proof of a national disability benefit to gain access to a locally administered concession. Some entitlements to social security cash benefits can be ‘exported’ if the person moves from one country to another in the European Economic Area (EEA). Although EU competence is limited in the area of national benefits, the report contains a number of recommendations for co-ordination and development of mechanisms for greater mobility.