Settled welcomes this timely and very well researched report by the Equality and Social Justice Committee, Welsh Parliament, highlighting some of the big issues that are affecting – and will continue to affect – EU citizens in Wales (and across the UK). Please read the full report here:

Settled but not safe? EU citizens who stayed after Brexit.

As the report makes clear, the consequences of not obtaining Settled or Pre-Settled status and thus the legal right to live in the UK are dire – losing rights to work, housing, benefits, education and even removal.

Given the complexity of the digital-only system, lack of awareness and understanding, we echo the report’s concerns about those who have yet to apply, most notably children, or those who have had difficulty establishing their right to remain through an exclusively online process. The EUSS is far from done, indeed, it is a generational issue. The report states that the EUSS has troubling hallmarks of the Windrush scandal, though the scale and numbers of people potentially affected by this could be significantly higher.

As Jenny Rathbone MS, Chair of the Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee, said: “This is not a distant technical issue buried in the complexities of immigration law. It is a human story – about families, workers, and communities who have contributed to Wales for decades, yet remain vulnerable because of flaws in the UK Government’s EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).” You can read Jenny Rathbone’s full opinion here: “Settled but not safe? – We must continue to protect EU Citizens in Wales”.

We value our relationship with the Welsh Government and the Senedd and applaud their efforts calling on the UK government and all of us to avoid a potential second Windrush scandal. Since Settled was established in 2019 we have worked hard to ensure that as many as possible EU citizens (and Ukrainians since 2022) secured their immigration status so that they could continue living here. 2024/25 was our busiest year, directly helping 13,538 people with one-on-one immigration advice. The number of people calling on us for support is increasing at a time when due to lack of funding available there are fewer organisations able to help them just as their cases are becoming more complex and thus requiring higher level expert immigration advice.

The report strongly recommends “the UK and Welsh governments should avoid reducing their support at all costs if a second Windrush is to be averted.” It argues that “Strategic, long-term planning would mitigate government overreliance on third sector service providers, and better position organisations such as Settled and the3million to assist.” Settled is proud to feature throughout the report quite prominently and we will continue to work alongside the Senedd, the Welsh government and our partners in Wales – and throughout the UK – to ensure that no EU citizen is left behind.