Can the Home Office cope with three million EU residents?

Speaking at the Institute for Government, the Chair of the Commons Exiting the EU Committee, Hilary Benn, highlighted the “huge backlog” the Home Office faces in dealing with applications from EU nationals for permanent residency.  

Applications for permanent residence cards, and for other documentation certifying the right to reside in the UK, from EU nationals jumped by 300% in Q3 of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. 

But that is a small fraction of the two million EU and European Economic Area (EEA) nationals who meet the five-year eligibility criterion. Benn questioned whether the Home Office has the capacity to deal with up to two million applications at a time when it must also deal with so many other issues arising from Brexit – including ongoing development of an e-borders system, advising ministers and the Government on the UK’s options for the future of our immigration and work permit system, border control, and international co-operation on security and borders. He believes that it is crucial to get early resolution on the future status of EU nationals living in the UK, to allow the Home Office a head start before it has to cope with whatever arrangements might apply to new arrivals post-Brexit.

This task comes at a time when the Home Office has seen staff numbers cut by 9% in the period September 2010 to September 2016, and a 16% reduction in its day-to-day spending budget in 2011/12 to 2016/17 (Figure 2). The Home Office budget is currently forecast to be cut by a further 5% in 2020. It will be a challenge for the Home Office to cope with such demands, described by Sunder Katwala, Director of British Future, as “the biggest task the Home Office has ever undertaken”, and it seems unrealistic to expect it to stick to its pre-Budget spending levels.

Even within this two million eligible for permanent residency, those who have not been continuously employed are finding it harder to establish entitlement than they expected. A further one million EEA nationals have been resident in the UK for less than five years, but were already here at the time of the EU referendum. Then, there are questions about the status of those who have come since the referendum and whether a cut-off date can or will be applied.

These grey areas will all be sorted out in the negotiations, alongside the rights of UK nationals living in other EU countries. Given the size and complexity of this task, some have suggested that a new system for approving permanent residency applications is needed.

At an Exiting the EU Committee hearing on 1 February, proposals included a simplified online application system or a more localised system of processing and approving applications, while referring more complex cases to central government. Katwala recommended removing or waiving the requirement of applicants for permanent residency to possess “comprehensive sickness insurance”. Currently, the Home Office does not view eligibility to use the NHS, which EEA nationals automatically possess, as fulfilling this requirement, and this is the most common grounds for refusal of residency applications.

All of these ideas might simplify and speed up the process of approving the three million EU and EEA nationals residing in the UK. But whatever option is chosen, there will remain serious questions about the Home Office’s capacity to make it a reality.

Watch or listen to the full event with Hilary Benn MP.