IMA to Consider Home Office Response to Delays Inquiry
The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) has noted the Home Office response to its recently published inquiry into delays in deciding some EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) applications.
The inquiry examined whether the Home Office had breached the rights of EU and EEA EFTA citizens by failing to determine applications within a reasonable timeframe. It was launched following reports of significant delays, despite the fact that millions of citizens have successfully secured their EUSS status.
The EUSS is a Home Office scheme which allows EU and EEA EFTA citizens resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 and their family members to apply for settled or pre-settled status. This enables them to continue living, working and studying in the UK after Brexit.
The IMA found that the Home Office had not always complied with its obligation under the Withdrawal and Separation Agreements to decide applications within a reasonable period.
It found that the practice of pausing certain applications at the suitability stage, without considering individual circumstances, breached those Agreements.
This issue has been addressed following a legal case in which the IMA intervened. The Home Office updated its guidance on EUSS suitability requirements accordingly.
We identified significant delays in allocating cases to caseworkers at key stages in some cases. These included delays of up to nine months at the suitability stage, which checks applicants’ conduct and criminal history. It is the IMA’s view that this amounted to a breach of the Agreements.
Timely decisions are critical to ensuring that citizens and their family members have certainty of their status, which underpins their ability to evidence rights such as working, renting and accessing benefits.
The IMA made a number of recommendations to the Home Office, including improvements to prevent misrouting of applications, delays in case allocation and duplicated evidence requests. It also recommended strengthening transparency and communication where applications exceed published processing times.
The Home Office has now responded to these recommendations. The IMA will consider that response and publish a further update. In the meantime, it will continue to engage with the Home Office on this issue.