IMA is assured that England local authorities are protecting the rights of EU looked after children and care leavers
The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) is assured that all 153 local authorities in England have confirmed they have appropriate measures in place to ensure the rights of eligible EU and EEA EFTA looked after children and care leavers are protected.
Following the UK’s departure from the EU, all eligible citizens, including children, are required to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) to guarantee their rights to live, work, study, and access benefits in the UK.
In October 2022, the IMA launched a review of local authorities across the UK to establish how they identify looked after children and care leavers who need to apply to the EUSS, and the procedures put in place to monitor those applications.
The initial review sought information in three key areas; identification, record keeping and retrospective checks, with each local authority categorised as red, amber or green in a grading system.
An interim report for all local authorities in England looked at a total of 153 local authorities, covering the majority of looked after children in the UK. At that time, no local authority’s response achieved a green grading for all three key areas.
Following this, the IMA worked collaboratively with each local authority to look at their processes in this area before a final review was made.
As a result of further engagement, the IMA identified that the majority of local authorities in England had outlined robust processes in place to identify and support eligible children in line with Home Office guidance.
In addition, the IMA made recommendations for improvements and offered further support to aid local authorities’ understanding of the EUSS.
Authorities have updated their case management systems to better record nationality and immigration status and have delivered targeted training for social workers along with new guidance documents. One local authority conducted full manual reviews to identify previously missed cases that could still be applied in time for their correct status.
As a result of the measures taken by local authorities in England, the IMA is assured that all 153 local authorities are protecting the rights of EU looked after children and care leavers.
Mark Jeffs, IMA Director of Operational Delivery said: “The IMA has welcomed the positive engagement with local authorities across England, this review demonstrates what can be achieved through constructive collaboration.
“Most importantly, this work has resulted in additional children being identified as eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme, and upon successful application they will have guaranteed their rights to continue to live, study and work in the UK. That is a meaningful outcome for some of the most vulnerable young people in our society.”
The review of all local authorities in England has now concluded and continues in Scotland.