25.6.2011

Official Journal of the European Union

C 186/5

(Case C-537/09) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 - Mobility component of Disability Living Allowance - Separate benefit - Special non-contributory benefit - Non-exportability)

2011/C 186/09

Language of the case: English

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Ralph James Bartlett, Natalio Gonzalez Ramos, Jason Michael Taylor

Defendant: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Upper Tribunal — Interpretation of Article 4(1) and (2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community (OJ, English Special Edition 1971 (II), p. 416), in the version in force before 5 May 2005 — Subsistence allowance for disabled persons consisting of a ‘care’ component granted to those needing personal assistance and a ‘mobility’ component intended for those needing help in order to move around (‘Disability living allowance’) — Possibility, for the purposes of applying the regulation, of regarding the mobility component as a separate benefit — Categorisation of that benefit

Operative part of the judgment

Article 4(2a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, as amended and updated by Council Regulation (EC) No 118/97 of 2 December 1996, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 631/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004, and of Regulation No 1408/71, in the latter version, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 647/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 April 2005, must be interpreted as meaning that the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance constitutes a special non-contributory cash benefit within the meaning of that provision, referred to in Annex IIa to those regulations.;

Consideration of the third question has disclosed nothing capable of affecting the validity of Article 10a of Regulation No 1408/71 in either of the versions applicable in the main proceedings, inasmuch as that article allows the award of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance to be made subject to conditions as to residence and presence in Great Britain.

(<span class="note">1</span>) OJ C 63, 13.3.2010.