‘Nowhere to go’: Outrage at Home Office after vulnerable EU nationals applying to stay in UK left without support

Vulnerable EU nationals have been left with “nowhere to go” for help applying to stay in the UK because the Home Office left the announcement of crucial funding until the “last minute”, campaigners say.

The department announced on Friday that it would allocate a further £8m to help vulnerable and at-risk people, such as children in care and domestic abuse victims, apply to the EU Settlement Scheme – three weeks before the current funding is due to run out.

Fifty-seven charities are currently funded by the Home Office to provide this support after being granted a total of £9m last April, but many said they had been forced to cut back on their services due to uncertainty as to whether the funding would continue beyond the month of March.

The department said these charities would have their funding extended until the end of June 2020, and that NGOs would then have the chance to bid for the new pot of funding to provide support for people who need help applying to the scheme – which EU citizens living in Britain must do before June 2021 in order to retain immigration rights after Brexit.

Kevin Foster, minister for future borders and immigration, said the new investment would ensure that “no stone would be left unturned in ensuring everyone gets the help they need”.

Campaigners welcomed the new funding, but said it was “regrettable” that it had been announced “so late in the day” and warned that one-off pots of funding would not be adequate to meet the needs of many people with highly complex cases who were yet to apply.

Bethan Lant, casework, training and advocacy manager at Praxis, which is currently funded to provide the support, said: “We are pleased to hear that the Home Office intends to continue the funding, although it is regrettable that this decision was taken so late in the day.

“Because of the uncertainty around funding, for the past month we have been unable to support the most vulnerable people with their application, as in some cases it takes months to gather the evidence needed to apply, and we didn’t know whether the funding would be there to complete the work on their applications. Some members of staff working on the scheme may have left their posts for more secure positions.”

Ms Lant called on the Home Office to avoid a “cliff-edge” scenario where people suddenly become undocumented for missing the deadline, and demanded clarity around the circumstances under which applications would still be accepted following the cut-off date.

Caitlin Boswell Jones, project officer at the Join Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said the £8m investment was welcome but that it “barely touched” what was needed to support all vulnerable people – and called on ministers to grant automatic settled status to all EU citizens.

“Before this last-minute announcement, many charities have been so underfunded that they have been forced to close waiting lists, leaving people like survivors of domestic violence with nowhere to turn for support,” she said.

“The government refuses to acknowledge that no amount of funding will ensure everyone applies in time. The likelihood is that tens of thousands of EU citizens will be unable to apply, will then fall out of status and become vulnerable to the hostile environment.”

Marianne Lagrue, policy manager at Coram’s migrant children’s project, said the charity welcomed the Home Office’s announcement, but warned that a finite pot of money the lasts for one year was “not going to cut it” for a scheme for which applications are going to get increasingly complex.

“The concentration of complex case within the number of cases that remain is getting bigger and bigger as we get closer to the deadline. We expect that there will be a flurry towards the deadline, and there will be people who miss it. Whether or not there will continue to be public money available to assist these people remains an unanswered question,” she said.

“The funding needs to be guaranteed in perpetuity and to adequately meet the need and complexity of the cases.”

Ms Lagrue said that vulnerable applicants would increasingly require legal professionals, rather than NGOs, to help them apply – and called on the government to consider introducing legal aid for these cases.

“Rather than creating something new specifically to meet the needs of this cohort, the Home Office needs to fund the basic tenets of the welfare state that are there to capture these people with their legal problems,” she said.

“The government needs to take a holistic view of the long-term needs of people. Anyone with a complex case and anyone who has an appeal should be eligible for legal aid.”

It comes after it emerged the EU settlement scheme was responsible for breaching General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law 100 times between April and August last year.

A report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) also raised concerns about a lack of support for vulnerable applicants, hidden costs of applying and a lack of transparency and detail in the Home Office data.

In total, 3.2 million people have so far registered for EU settled status, which they must obtain in order to continue living legally in the UK after June 2021. Of these, 2.7 million have been granted the status – meaning around 500,000 applications are currently going through the system.

Announcing the new funding on Friday, Mr Foster said: “EU citizens are an integral part of our society, culture and community, and this is their home. Supporting vulnerable EU citizens and their families is at the forefront of our approach to the EU Settlement Scheme.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.