An inspection of the EU Settlement Scheme (April 2019 to August 2019)

Home Office accepted: On 30 March 2019 the legislative changes giving effect to the Prime Minister’s announcement took effect, so that all applications to the EU Settlement Scheme from that date have been free of charge. We have now processed allrelevant refundsthrough Home Office systems. Refunds were managed through an automated process, so applicants did not need to take any action to request their refund. The fee will be automatically refunded to the card that was used to pay the application fee. The removal of the fee will not have any impact on the resourcing and functioning of the scheme. Resourcing for the scheme has been secured through central government funds. We already have over 1,500 UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) European Casework staff in post to process EU Settlement Scheme applications. In addition to this, we have a further 250 staff for the new customer resolution centre which proactively supports EU citizens through the application process. The removal of the EU Settlement Scheme fee will not have a direct impact on other areas of Borders, Immigration and Citizenship System fees. This is a funded scheme and a unique arrangement that is part of a specific set of discussions and agreements around the UK’s exit from the EU. The Immigration White Paper sets out a framework for a future immigration system, including how the system will be funded. Income generation through fees and charges will continue to underpin our future system, and we will keep the level of fees under review. 2. Dedicate sufficient resources to the EU Settlement Scheme throughout its life to ensure that all applications are processed efficiently and effectively, and that the lack of a customer service standard does not affect the priority given to these applications when compared with other UKVI functions that do have such standards.