Thread by @rightsofwomen

Government released a report on the second private beta testing phase of the EU Settlement Scheme today. Rights of Women was one of the 7 community organisations that supported vulnerable applicants during this phase. THREAD

gov.uk/government/pub…

One of our concerns about the settlement scheme is that applicants may not receive the status they are eligible for i.e. those entitled to ‘settled status’ (indefinite leave to remain) may instead receive ‘pre-settled status’ (5 years limited leave to remain).

In the first private beta testing phase in 2018, government reported that everyone got the status that they expected. In the report published today, there is no reference to this measure. We don’t know how many applicants during PB2 didn’t get the status they applied for.

The report states ‘no cases were refused’. If an applicant claimed to be eligible for settled status but was instead granted pre-settled status, this is not recorded as a refusal. We just don’t know how many applied for settled status but were given pre-settled status.

This matters because pre-settled status can be lost, is no guarantee to getting settled status in the future and carries fewer rights and entitlements.

Government says 81% of all PB2 applications were processed within a week. Half of our vulnerable clients waited 3 weeks or more for a decision. We’re still waiting for 25% of the decisions in our cases. 2 of our clients have been waiting more than 8 weeks now for a decision.

Government says 84% of cases did not need to provide any additional evidence of residence. 83% of the vulnerable clients we supported did need to provide additional evidence of residence. This figure rises to 100% of those who applied for settled status (rather than pre-settled)

We don’t recognise our clients’ experiences in this report. We understand further evaluation of the vulnerability cohort is being conducted and we urge government to publish those findings soon. END