Qualification stopped for an eea national?

[Elala]

Hi, We have a slightly complicated situation.
my husbands holds a German passport and a non eu passport. i hold a non eu passport and as of August 2010 a romanian passport as well.
we arrived in the UK as students in august 2007, both of us with student visas on our non eu passports.
we did not have a comprehensive sickness insurance.
in september 2009, upon finishing our studies, we both found employment in the UK. my husband under his german passport and i was granted a family member of an eu national residence permit for 5 years.
while working we both had a private insurance cover from our respective places of work.
In March 2014 my husband took voluntary redundancy from his place of work (paid) and has not had a private medical insurance cover since. he is still not working. I am still working with the private medical insurance (now able to do so also due to my romanian passport).

we recently applied for citizenship for our child born in the uk, under the belief that my husband has now been settled. we have been in the uk for 7.5 years... the application has been refused on the grounds that neither parent is settled.
upon investigating the situation online i assume that this is the reason they don't see my husband as settled:

1. no comprehensive medical insurance during our student years means these first two years don't count in the 5 years count.
2. the fact that he has taken voluntary redundancy and has not been working since, and also did not take private medical insurance since means the the count of 5 years has been stopped in march before reaching the full 5 years in september 2014 (sep 2009 - sep 2014). he was self sufficient during that period and i was still working, but i guess that doesn't help without the medical insurance...

My questions are:
A. is the count for 5 years for permanent residency been restarted for him? does he need to now be a qualified person for an additional 5 years? is there a way to resume it if he now starts working or if he shows self sufficiency and takes a medical insurance?

B. can i apply for a permanent residency? i have been working (on the basis of the residence card as a family member and/or romanian passport) for the full 5 years with private medical insurance from my work place. can i apply to ILR (permenant residence) or is the fact that he has not been working and with no medical insurance for the past few months (ie not qualified) means that as my sponsor, this will also null my application?

C. is the fact that i am now also a romanian passport holder since august 2010 relevant? can i maybe apply under that capacity in some way?

we are very confused, any help would be very appreciated on our best avenue at this point. what should we be doing to get permanent residency (become settled ) as soon as possible>?

Many thanks!
Ela

[obormot]

My guess is that you should be able to count years for both of you starting from the day your husband started to work on German passport.
First, from the day he started to work - till either the day he stopped or the day you got Romanian passport, job, and no associated restrictions (I remember until recently some additional restrictions were imposed on Romanian nationality) - you could claim him being EEA member exercising treaty rights and you being family member (no private insurance needed, as he worked).
After that day, you "switch" - you become EEA member exercising treaty rights and he - your dependent family member (so no insurance needed either - since you work).

The way the law is phrased I would think oscillating between status of EU member (exercising treaty rights) and a family member of EU worker should count for continuous 5 years. But you might encounter some resistance fro UKBA. I would not bet on a solicitor, but rather prepare a thoughtful file, and, if refused, would do appeal and going to court.

I do not remember what the law says exactly about Romanian nationality - there were some restrictions attached, if you complied with them then you might also be able to just claim PR in August 2015 on the basis of being a working EEA member for 5 years (and your husband on the basis of being your family member)