A final update on our case, following our hearing at the Court of Appeal. 

We set out our argument that the Home Secretary is failing to meet her duties under the Equality Act. This is because the EU Settlement scheme is designed in a way that puts tens of thousands of people in danger of losing their right to remain in the UK, with those who are already marginalised or vulnerable most at risk. 

In a deeply disappointing decision, the judges upheld the ruling of the High Court, which means we have reached the end of the road for this case. The Home Office successfully argued that no discrimination has occurred yet, and that we should wait and see what happens.  

We don’t think that’s good enough. But judges took similar decisions in a number of cases that deal with discrimination in the EU Settlement Scheme.  

This is not the outcome any of us wanted. The truth is, vulnerable people are still at risk of losing their right to remain in the UK. Not only on the deadline day, but in the ‘silent wave’ of people whose pre-Settled Status expires in the next five years, forcing them to make a further application to keep their rights. The only way to prevent this is to lift the deadline. We are making one final call for MPs to back us on this – you can write to yours now at https://www.jcwi.org.uk/call-on-your-mp-to-support-eu-citizens-rights. 

The case has helped us win some important battles. The risks have been put firmly on the Home Secretary’s radar. In April the Home Office issued long-awaited guidance on how it will deal with people who are eligible for Settled Status, but miss the deadline. Every group we referenced in our case is reflected in the guidance. It doesn’t go far enough – one single day of being criminalised in the Hostile Environment can be life-changing – but along with other campaigners we have forced the Home Office to identify gaps in its scheme. And our case helps set out a framework for campaigners to bring action later down the line, when the worst does happen. 

We could not have achieved this without you, so thank you. Your support means we can cover the costs of bringing the case, with any left over going to the Public Law Project, the charity who represented us in this case. 

We are proud to have fought this every step of the way. In the Brexit referendum, prominent Leave campaigners promised that EU citizens would automatically be granted Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. They broke that promise, and now the same politicians are overseeing a system that will push our EU national family, friends and neighbours out of status, to face the Hostile Environment. We have fought this every step of the way and we will continue to do so. 

You can join our campaigns against the Hostile Environment and for automatic, accessible routes to status in the UK, on our website: www.jcwi.org.uk/WeAreHere 

Once again a huge thank you for fighting this case with us. We are so grateful for your support.

Last Thursday we had our first court hearing. Our lawyers put forward our case that the Home Secretary is failing to meet her duties under the Equality Act, having designed the EU Settlement scheme in a way that puts tens of thousands of people in danger of losing their right to remain in the UK, with those who are already marginalised or vulnerable most at risk.

In a deeply disappointing decision, the judge refused permission for our case to go ahead to a full hearing. Effectively, the Home Office persuaded the judge that it had acted reasonably in collecting sufficient evidence on discrimination caused by the scheme, but also that there was insufficient evidence to say whether or not discrimination was occurring.

We disagree on both counts, but we are also concerned that these are all issues that should have been dealt with at a full hearing where the very detailed evidence of discrimination and the inadequacy of the Home Office response we presented could be properly considered. A permission hearing is only supposed to look at whether a case is legally arguable, and we strongly believe our case is.

We have instructed our lawyers to appeal the decision. It is going to be an uphill battle to persuade the Court of Appeal judges of our case, but we’re giving it everything we've got. We will be submitting our appeal this week, and will likely be able to report back a decision on whether the case can go ahead within the month.

We could not have got this far without your support, so a huge thank you to everyone who has backed this case. We have the funds we need to cover the costs including the appeal of the permission decision, so we are closing the crowdfunder for the time being. A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far.

Great news – we have our first court hearing today! This is our first opportunity to argue our case in open court – that the Home Secretary is failing to meet her duties under the Equality Act, having designed the scheme in a way that puts tens of thousands of people in danger of losing their right to remain in the UK, with those who are already marginalised or vulnerable most at risk.

It will be a short hearing, because at this stage the judge simply needs to confirm whether the case we are making is legally arguable.

The very first stage of a judicial review is for a judge to make a preliminary decision based on written arguments, without hearing from either side’s lawyers. It’s quite common for a case to be denied permission to proceed on the papers, and that’s what happened in our case. So now, taking the advice of our legal team, we’re going to the next stage, which is called a renewal hearing. Today we will be making our application again, but with our lawyers able to make our case directly to a judge.

We hope to hear whether the judge is giving us the green light to proceed with a full hearing within a few weeks, possibly even a few days.

We will keep you posted.

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated already to help make this possible –we couldn’t have got here without you. We are still raising money to cover the costs of bringing this case, so please do donate or share this page. 

Policy Equality Statement

On 18 November, over a year since we first requested it, the Home Office published its Policy Equality Statement on the EU Settlement Scheme. We still have no idea why it took so long to publish, leaving only 6 weeks to the end of the transition period and no time for meaningful engagement with the public, EEA+ citizens, practitioners and experts. When the Home Office refuses to engage with experts, it greatly increases the risks that its policies will have a discriminatory impact – just like what happened with Windrush. 

The Statement itself simply isn’t good enough. There’s no acknowledgement that people with some protected characteristics (such as older people, people with mental capacity issues, Roma communities), are less likely to know about the scheme in the first place. 

There’s no analysis on how protected characteristics and precarious work overlap, leaving some people like agricultural workers or care workers, at higher risk. 

And where the Home Office does recognise that certain groups face particular disadvantage, it says this is justified, pitting the needs of these groups against the needs of others. This isn’t good enough. 

Our case: standing with vulnerable EU citizens

The Home Office has created a scheme that will force significant numbers of vulnerable EU nationals out of status and criminalise them for living their daily lives. 

We believe the Home Secretary is in breach of her duties under the Equality Act, and today we are launching this legal action to protect those who are most at risk.  

We know that granting EU nationals and their family members an automatic right to stay in the UK would be the best option. That’s probably why Priti Patel and Boris Johnson promised that during the Vote Leave Campaign. But if they won’t do that, then they still have to make sure the EUSS complies with the law and it doesn’t end up discriminating against marginalised and vulnerable groups. 

So we are also setting out the basic safeguards we say must be met for the Home Secretary to meet her legal duties. She must extend the June 2021 deadline until she has worked out who is likely to fall out of status and made sure to put in extensive safeguards to prevent that happening. Only once we can be sure everyone is safe can we allow the EUSS to end.

A huge thank you to everyone who has already donated to make this case possible – we are still raising money to cover the costs of bringing this case, so please donate now.