Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what adjustments have been made to the EU Settlement Scheme to mitigate the disruptions caused by the covid-19 outbreak in order to ensure that all EU citizens are able to obtain their status through that scheme by the 30 June 2021 deadline.

The Home Office has continued to receive and process thousands of applications daily to the EU Settlement Scheme throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This resulted in nearly 4.9 million applications had been received by 31 December 2020.

Support for applicants who need it has remained available, including from the EU Settlement Resolution Centre and the network of now 72 organisations across the UK grant-funded by the Home Office to help vulnerable people apply to the scheme.

In line with the Withdrawal Agreement, the Government has made clear where a person has reasonable grounds for missing the 30 June 2021 deadline for applications to the EU Settlement Scheme by EU citizens and their family members resident in the UK by the end of the transition period, they will be given a further opportunity to apply.

Published guidance for EUSS applicants on the impact of COVID-19 is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-eu-settlement-scheme-guidance-for-applicants.