Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential financial impact of the Earned Settlement proposals on clergy and sponsoring dioceses.

The consultation for the earned settlement model, as proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was open to the public between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026.

As part of this consultation, we sought views on the potential impact of the proposed changes and whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement. We also asked for views on whether certain groups should be exempt from the income requirement.

We received over 200,000 responses from the public and organisations are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model.

Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly.  As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both economic and equality impact assessments.