It seems impossible to believe that, with only days to go, we were still unclear as to whether Britain would be leaving the EU on 31st October or not. As it turns out, another ‘leaving date’ has been sailed through and we’re still no wiser as to what’s going to happen over the coming months. One thing that is certain is that employers are seeing a massive upsurge in the number of European employees applying to stay in the UK after Brexit.
If you have employees from the EU that have not yet applied for Settled Status, and that wish to continue living and working in the UK after Brexit, they need to apply ASAP. Enlighten HR can help with this, if you need further guidance.
Founder of enlightenHR, Alison Benney, said: “It’s essential that EU individuals apply for Settled Status immediately – there’s no time to lose. It might seem like a good idea to wait until Brexit is decided but that could be leaving things too late. We’re seeing a significant backlog of applications and a surge in the number of EU citizens applying to the EU Settlement Scheme. If the UK leaves the EU on 31st October and EU citizens don’t have agreed Settled Status, employers could be in trouble. Acting now and helping employees and workers to apply, where applicable, could reduce uncertainty and – in the worst case scenario – people having their right to remain removed.”
People Management reported that:
There were 520,600 applications to the scheme in September alone. The previous record for a single month was 389,000 in April 2019.
It means the total number of applications for settled status has reached two million, out of an estimated 3.6 million EU citizens living in the UK and eligible to apply.
However, the figures also revealed just 373,000 decisions on status were made in September, adding to concerns that a backlog of applications – which totalled 275,500 at the end of September – could cause problems with the current Brexit deadline just two weeks away on 31 October.
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What is ‘Settled Status’ and the ‘EU Settlement Scheme’?
Settled Status is what we call an agreement, under the EU Settlement Scheme, for EU citizens and their families, currently living and working in the UK, to live and work in the UK, indefinitely, after Brexit.
The EU Settlement Scheme is a Home Office initiative and is open to all EU citizens who began living in the UK before 31 December 2020 or – in the event of a no-deal Brexit – the date the UK leaves and have lived in the UK for a continuous five-year period . Any applicants who have not met the continuous residence threshold are given the more temporary pre-settled status, which only allows for a further five years of residence from the date the status is granted.
For more information on this please contact Alison on alison@enlightenhr.com
