The Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) has published the report of its inquiry into whether the Home Office has breached the rights of EU citizens and their family members by failing to deal with some EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) applications in a reasonable timeframe.
The inquiry came about because of information provided by citizens and stakeholders to the IMA showing delays in receiving decisions on their EUSS applications. The findings of the inquiry have now been published in a report that concludes that in some cases the Home Office has breached the Withdrawal Agreement with these delays.
Why this breach matters
While millions have successfully secured their EUSS status, for those who are still awaiting a decision on their application delays can significantly affect their lives and rights.
Applicants receive a Certificate of Application (CoA) when their application is submitted which is supposed to provide protections that allow individuals to work, rent and access services while a decision is pending. But reports from citizens showed that these protections were not always recognised in practice.
Some citizens reported losing job opportunities or being unable to start work due to right to work issues, others faced housing insecurity, including being refused mortgages or tenancies, while some were denied boarding or entry at the UK border despite having a CoA.
Breaches
The IMA found that as there is a general obligation in the Withdrawal Agreement to issue timely decisions, there were a number of breaches relating to delays in deciding EUSS applications.
The policy and practice of pausing EUSS applications where the applicant had a pending criminal prosecution was considered a breach of the Withdrawal Agreement. Following a court case where the IMA successfully argued there was a breach, Home Office guidance was updated so these cases are no longer paused.
The IMA also found that delays in allocating cases to caseworkers at both the eligibility stage and suitability stage amounted to a breach of the Withdrawal Agreement.
Some other causes of delays were not breaches of the Withdrawal Agreement, but nevertheless, the report suggests Home Office processes could still be improved to ensure decisions are not unnecessarily delayed.
The IMA’s recommendations to the Home Office
As a result of the inquiry, the IMA recommends that the Home Office considers if changes can be made so that misrouting applications, delays and duplications of evidence requests are prevented.
In addition, the Home Office should also consider how to improve the transparency and communication with applicants who do not receive a decision within the EUSS processing times available online.
It is important to note that time has passed since the evidence which forms the base of the inquiry was collected. This means that changes to the EUSS will likely have had an impact and possible improvement on application times. The Home Office has three months from the date the report is published to respond to the recommendations.
Read the full report on the Independent Monitoring Authority’s website..
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