A CARE worker who came to the UK when she was an 11-month-old baby has lost her job as a consequence of Brexit rule changes.

The Spanish woman, 45, told The Guardian she had applied for EU settled status in order to remain in the UK after the deadline last month – but found her application is amongst 500,000 cases the Home Office is still to process.

The woman, who has not been named, claims she has called the department’s helpline more than 100 times in recent weeks but has been unable to get through to an adviser.

At the end of June her care home employers found she could not prove her right to work in the UK and asked her to demonstrate her status. She told the newspaper it was like the bosses “were accusing me of coming here on the back of a lorry”, and explained how she cried during a meeting with them.

READ MORE: Brexit: Almost 6000 EU nationals are in status backlog a year later

The 45-year-old faced difficulties in applying for settled status as she did not have a British or Spanish passport, making her ineligible for a digital application and instead having to send her birth certificate in a complex printed form.

“Because I’ve been in this country all my life, I didn’t think I would have any problems,” she explained. “My husband and two children are British.”

At the start of July she was fired, with her employers warning they faced a fine if she continued working for them.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said the woman’s experience was exactly what the UK Government had been warned about.

The National:

“And so it begins,” he wrote. “The blame for this lies fairly and squarely at the door of [Boris Johnson]. A woman who has been here since a baby denied her right to work. I hope this is fixed asap but this will be the first of many.”

Ahead of the settled status deadline last month, Europe minister Jenny Gilruth warned the system risked a second Windrush scandal.

“The Scottish Government does not accept that our EU citizens should have to sign up to any sort of scheme,” she said. “Indeed, Michael Gove, the Prime Minister and Priti Patel all gave assurances during the 2016 referendum that there would be ‘no change’ for EU residents here.”

READ MORE: Boris Johnson leaving EU nationals 'in limbo', Ian Blackford warns

Scottish calls for an extension to the deadline went ignored despite the large number of applications in the Home Office backlog.

A spokesperson for the Home Office commented: “There have already been more than 5.1m grants of status under the hugely successful EU settlement scheme. Anyone who applied to the scheme by the 30 June deadline, but has not had a decision, has their rights protected until their application is decided. This is set out in law.”