Delay the Deadline: EU Settlement Scheme Receives Over 5 Million Applications
Background
The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) was launched in March 2019 to allow citizens from a range of European countries to gain settled or pre-settled status in the UK. Despite the name, this doesn’t just apply to EU countries. The scheme also includes the EEA countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as Switzerland.
With the EUSS deadline of 30 June 2021 fast approaching, hitting a milestone of 5 million applicants seems to be good news. However, statistics from multiple sources, including the EU Migration Observatory and the Office for National Statistics, suggest a much lower number of EU citizens currently live in the UK.
These sources state that the population of EU citizens living in the UK to be between 3.6 - 4 million. On top of this, EU net migration has been steadily reducing since 2016 which begs the question, where did an extra one million people come from? This is even stranger when you consider the distinct lack of immigration due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Problems for the labour market
The conflicting figures speak to a wider communication issue in the UK. With the deadline looming ever closer, it seems certain areas of the UK labour market could be approaching a cliff edge.
The government admit that they cannot provide information relating to the nationality of those working in health and social care. Current estimates suggest that around 6% of all staff across the NHS and social care sectors are EU citizens.
In a report from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI, it was revealed that a third of EU care workers in the UK hadn’t even heard of the EUSS, never mind the deadline. Considering there is well over 100,000 unfilled care jobs in the UK, a sudden loss of migrant workers could be disastrous for the industry.
And it’s not just the care industry that’s under threat. Statistics from 2016 show that the hospitality and tourism industry relies heavily on EU workers. Around 45% of these sectors are made up of migrants from Europe.
Construction, the third most valuable industry in the UK, is another significant employer of EU citizens. Approximately 28% of construction workers in London are EU citizens. Recent news shows the number of EU nationals is already declining in the industry, and by 25% in the past 12 months.
Delaying the Deadline
Advocacy groups and trade unions have been campaigning to extend the deadline for the EUSS. Campaign group The3million highlight the impact that the coronavirus restrictions have had on people’s awareness of the deadline and their ability to apply.
Considering the extensions and delays in other areas due to the pandemic, it does seem like an appropriate course of action to extend the deadline. It's reported that an extension would be beneficial to the government as it would allow extra time to clear their current applications.
As the government can give no figure on the number of citizens from the EU working in the country, it’s inherently difficult to judge the effect of the deadline. The current cut off could mean that thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of workers across the UK could be working illegally.
It is clear that the biggest issue is awareness of the deadline coming to an end. Government communications have been so focussed on advice and restrictions relating to coronavirus many EU citizens aren’t even aware that there is a deadline approaching. If the deadline isn’t extended, the government need to do some real work to ensure that they get the message about the ending EUSS out there.
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