Newsroom
For ten years, a disabled mother of two has been waiting for a disability pension she applied for in 2016, despite court rulings in her favor and official assessments confirming her permanent and serious disability.
The woman, who suffers from severe spinal problems and has undergone surgery and spinal fusion, turned to the state after her condition left her unable to work. What followed was a long and exhausting battle with bureaucracy that has now drawn sharp criticism from the Commissioner for Administration.
Although the Supreme Court vindicated the woman, and she was officially assessed in 2017 as having a permanent serious disability, her application remains unresolved. The Medical Council of the Social Insurance Services has repeatedly said it cannot determine whether she was incapable of work during the relevant period, a position that has effectively frozen the case for nearly a decade.
The Commissioner’s report points to a critical error at the very start. The woman’s original application was rejected in 2016 based largely on a response from her treating doctor, whose native language is German. A court later acknowledged that the rejection may have been caused by a misunderstanding or incorrect answer.
In 2020, the Administrative Court annulled the rejection, ruling that authorities failed to follow the law by not referring the woman to a state medical council. Instead of correcting the mistake, the administration appealed the decision, only to withdraw the appeal three years later, losing valuable time.
The case was eventually referred to a Secondary Medical Council, which in 2024 said it could not reach a conclusion due to insufficient clinical data. In October 2025, the file was sent back once again for review. A final decision is still pending.
Throughout this period, the woman has received no disability pension, a right protected by the Constitution, through no fault of her own.
The Cyprus Confederation of Disabled Persons’ Organizations raised the issue with the Ministry of Labor, warning that the woman’s fundamental rights were being violated. The Commissioner also noted long delays in official responses and what she described as a failure to comply with binding court decisions.
In her report, Commissioner Maria Stylianou-Lottidis gave the Ministry of Labor one month to complete a proper review of the case, based on the medical evidence available at the time and earlier assessments.
Her conclusion was stark: nearly ten years of delays, errors, and avoidance have deprived a disabled mother of her right to a dignified life.
