THERE are and will be “massive problems” with the EU Settlement Scheme in the years to come, a committee has heard.
The House of Lords European Affairs Committee met yesterday afternoon to hear evidence from experts on the issue of Citizens’ Rights in the EU and UK.
Despite praising the number of EU citizens who had signed up to the scheme already, the three experts who answered questions had serious concerns over the lack of a physical document proving settled status, the tight deadline of June 30 for all applicants and the need for a helpline and resolutions centre for queries as the process goes on.
Kate Smart, chief executive at Settled, a charity supporting Europeans living in the UK, explained that as the EU settlement scheme application process is primarily online this has been causing issues for many who do not have an access to a smartphone or computer.
To register online you need to have a photographic form of ID – but the Covid pandemic has meant many European nationals have struggled to get appointments at embassies to get identification renewed for themselves or their children.
The committee heard that although there is a paper version of the application, it is “difficult to get” and quite often the request will be refused, leaving many EU nationals in a tricky position.
Smart explained that without an official physical document, landlords or employers could be suspicious that the EU national may not have settled status and this could adversely affect them.
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Asked by Lord Faulkner if she thought the EU settlement scheme could potentially become a Windrush II, Smart said: “There’s going to be massive problems, massive problems for years to come with various aspects of this scheme, there is no doubt, and in order to avoid that, apart from as I said some sort of mass information strategy, where everybody is aware of the situation Europeans are in.
“There needs to be helplines and resolution centres and voluntary sector advice services in place for years as these situations unfold, in order to avoid the circumstances you talked about.”
Monique Hawkins, policy and research officer at the3million, also raised concerns about the settlement scheme during the committee hearing.
She said: “There’s a fundamental design flaw at the heart of it because the withdrawal agreement specifies that each country choosing a constitutive system, it says in article 18.1 that the purpose of the application procedure will be to verify whether the applicant is entitled to the residents’ rights set out in this title. And fundamentally the EU Settlement Scheme doesn’t actually do that because some people who get settled status are covered by the withdrawal agreement, others are not, and there are likewise people who are covered by the withdrawal agreement who are not able to get proof of that.”
There are concerns that those who are digitally excluded, may not have photo ID or who are unaware of the scheme may lose out on getting settled status.
It is understood that even if 1% of EU citizens in the UK don’t make the deadline or know they need to apply could be somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 people.
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