Our online discussion about the EU Settlement Scheme on Wednesday 27 May marked the halfway point in our #BrexitAnswers webinar series. We heard from Caitlin Boswell-Jones of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Danai Galaziou of the AIRE Centre, and Tamara Flanagan of the New Europeans, who shared their expertise about the process and answered our audience’s questions. Clearly a popular topic, our attendees came from a diverse range of organisations: from campaign groups specialising in the EUSS to those with no other experience of dealing with immigration issues.
Danai Galaziou kicked things off with an overview of the Settlement Scheme, and some of the problems applicants have with it. Whilst so much press and political focus has been on the ease of applying to the scheme and its success, she highlighted some of the reasons why individuals might be refused or be incorrectly awarded pre-settled status. These ranged from holding serious criminal convictions, to being unable to provide adequate evidence such as tax documentation.
Tamara Flanagan then took over to look more closely at groups who are struggling to access the scheme and the reasons for this. Research has shown that the reasons principally cited for individuals struggling to access the scheme are accessibility, language, poverty and awareness. This particularly impacts various vulnerable groups: children; those who don’t think they are eligible due to minor convictions or previously being refused permanent residence;those with reduced autonomy such as survivors of domestic abuse; those subject to exploitation, people living in poverty, and those without stable housing. Even for individuals who are aware of and are able to access the scheme, a significant barrier can be providing documentation. A surprisingly large number of individuals don’t have bank accounts: cash in hand workers, young people not in employment, education or training, unpaid carers, and those who will arrive just before the cut off date.
Tamara noted that whilst some funding is currently available for charities and outreach groups to assist those excluded from the scheme, a future problem will be how these individuals, particularly those with pre-settled status who will need to make a further application for settled status, are supported after 30 June 2021. Whilst the Home Office has said it will send a letter or email reminding individuals to apply, it is hard to imagine that all individuals, particularly the most vulnerable, will be easily reached in this way. This needs to be particularly borne in mind considering the number of people who are known to be applying using other people’s email addresses because they may lack their own digital contact details.
Caitlin Boswell-Jones finished off the round of presentations by outlining the difficulties presented by the hostile environment, and the now pressing risk to EU citizens who have not secured status under the scheme by the time the application deadline is up on the 30rd June 2021. The hostile environment, established to deter immigrants, prevents unregularised immigrants from accessing healthcare, housing and employment and requires all migrants to provide proof of their eligibility to access the same. Whilst there is a particular worry about the vulnerable groups outlined by Tamara being subject to these restrictions, there is a much broader concern about workers across all industries. This is particularly true in sectors where there are low levels of unionisation and spoken English such as the care and construction industries. This will inevitably include the key workers we have been relying on during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about some successes for those campaigning for migrant’s rights- like the abandonment of the NHS fee for migrant healthcare workers- it has also presented extensive barriers to applying for settled status which will likely cause problems in the future.
A number of questions were submitted, including, the definition of a vulnerable person, access to universal credit, and the possibility of physical documentation. Looking to the future, a number of suggestions were made by our panelists:
Whilst government messaging is focussed on welcoming EU citizens already in the country, it needs to be made more clear that their rights to stay are contingent on applying to the EU Settlement Scheme.
EU citizens need to be made more aware of their rights and feel more able to exercise these. Something which has worked previously was the provision of credit card sized cards setting out the rights of the holder.
Michael Gove has suggested that the government might be open to reconsider providing a physical document as proof of status which would be of huge benefit.
Embassies could take a more flexible role in assisting their citizens in the UK with their applications by being more flexible with providing new identification documents where needed.
Thank you to all those who attended and to our speakers Caitlin Boswell-Jones of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Danai Galaziou of the AIRE Centre, and Tamara Flanagan of the New Europeans.
Further Resources
The AIRE Centre legal questionnaire for people to check if they are eligible to apply and at the end you get a response which you can verify directly with one of their immigration advisors.
The AIRE Centre’s quiz that aims to reach young people and make it easy to understand the EUSS.
The Brexit Civil Society Alliance EU Citizens and Covid-19 Resources Hub