The Bishop of Durham received the following written answers on 13th July 2021:
The Lord Bishop of Durham asked Her Majesty’s Government whether European Economic Area nationals who apply late to the EU Settlement Scheme will be permitted to have the right to work and rent while their applications are pending.
Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con, Home Office): From 1 July, right to work and right to rent checks will change and EEA citizens will be required to demonstrate eligibility through evidence of their immigration status, rather than their nationality.
EEA citizens who have an outstanding, late application to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and do not have any other form of immigration leave will not be permitted to take up new employment or enter into a new tenancy agreement until they have been granted status under the EUSS.
We have designed a process to ensure employers do not have to cease the employment of an individual who has been working for them since before the end of the grace period, who makes a late application.
Likewise, a landlord is not required to evict an existing tenant who no longer has lawful status in the UK, but they must make a report via GOV.UK to the Home Office, to maintain their statutory excuse.
A person granted status under the EU Settlement Scheme on the basis of a late application will have the same rights from the date they are granted status, as a person who applied by the deadline. This includes their right to work and right to rent.
The Lord Bishop of Durham asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- what measures are in place to ensure that the number of young people in the care of local authorities who still need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme do so before the deadline.
- what steps they are taking to work with local authorities to ensure all eligible children in care and care leavers are identified before the EU Settlement Scheme deadline.
- whether they intend to publish updated figures of the number of children in care and care leavers identified as eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.
- further to the update to the EU Settlement Scheme caseworker guidance on late applications and its discussion of children in care and care leavers, whether care leavers who are over 18 at the deadline are included as having reasonable grounds to make out of time applications.
Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Home Office has continued to engage with local authorities as they undertake their responsibilities to ensure eligible looked after children and care leavers were supported to make an application to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) by the 30 June 2021 deadline for those resident in the UK by the end of the transition period.
This included running webinars for local authority staff making or supporting EUSS applications, providing support seven days a week via the EU Settlement Resolution Centre and making available £22 million in grant funding through to 30 September 2021 for a network of 72 organisations across the UK, including several local authorities and local government associations, to help vulnerable groups apply to the EUSS. We have also provided additional funding, following a new burdens assessment, for local authority work in helping looked after children and care leavers to obtain EUSS status. This work and their relevant statutory responsibilities are reflected in the guidance on the EUSS for local authorities which is available at:
To monitor progress with this important work, the Home Office carried out a further survey of local authorities earlier this year. As of 23 April 2021, applications had been submitted by or for 2,440 (67 per cent) of the 3,660 looked after children and care leavers identified by the survey as eligible to apply. Using the data from the survey, further workshops have been delivered and targeted engagement carried out with local authorities to support further progress.
We are considering options for further progress monitoring in relation to this cohort following the 30 June 2021 deadline. Further information on the survey is available at:
EU Settlement Scheme: looked-after children and care leavers survey 2020 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We will continue to work closely with local authorities following the 30 June 2021 deadline. Consistent with the published non-exhaustive guidance on reasonable grounds for making a late application, we will take a pragmatic and flexible approach to dealing with late applications, including from care leavers who were aged over 18 before the deadline.
The Church of England in Parliament 
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