THOUSANDS of EU citizens living in the UK are set to lose their benefits next month if they haven’t applied for settled status.
Campaigners have warned that the UK Government's decision to cut off European nationals could push vulnerable people into destitution.
There are fears that many are still unaware that they need to apply for settled status after Brexit.
The Independent reports that around 70,000 European nationals who receive benefits had not yet applied to the settlement scheme by the June 30 deadline.
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The newspaper cites an internal Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) letter which reveals final warning letters will be sent out in September to European benefit claimants who have not yet applied to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS).
It is understood the group will then be given a month to sign up late to the EUSS scheme before their benefit payments are cut. The at-risk payments range from Universal Credit to housing benefits.
Despite late applications to the scheme still being allowed, campaigners fear many Europeans, such as vulnerable people who struggle with paperwork or IT literacy, will remain out of reach until the deadline passes.
The 3million group, which advocates for the rights of EU nationals in the UK, wrote a letter to work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey urging her to rethink the plan.
Luke Piper, 3million’s head of policy, said in the letter: “We are very concerned that there will be many EEA or Swiss nationals who will have their benefits entitlement terminated and be pushed into destitution.
“Based on the correspondence we have seen, this will be an inevitable consequence of your policy, and will impact on people who are in very vulnerable circumstances.
“We understand that the estimates of [European] nationals who had not applied was in excess of 100,000 and that number was reduced to approximately 70,000 during June 2021.
“We ask that you urgently revisit this policy and not terminate DWP benefits. We ask that you ensure that every recipient who has not applied is individually identified and supported to apply to the EUSS.”
Piper said there could be several thousand people left in this “strange limbo” and that he expected their lawyers to take legal action against the government.
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Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive at the Work Rights Centre, which supports EU migrant workers, warned thousands of people will be cut-off from benefits and said she was “very worried” by the DWP push to end payments.
Vicol said: “Mail will remain unopened because there are people who get anxious whenever they get a letter from the government.
“Others are not able to understand the administrative language and rely upon the help of family, friends or advisers to interpret it, or struggle with IT literacy. It’s unrealistic to expect that everyone who should have applied has done it already.”
The DWP would not confirm how many letters it expects to send to European benefit claimants in September.
It is understood thousands of EU citizens in the UK could be affected by the move
A UK Gvernment spokesperson said the letters would make “very clear” the support available to people to make a late application, and that safeguards were in place to help protect against removal of benefits for potentially vulnerable individuals who may ultimately be eligible for status.
They added: “Every day thousands of people are being given status through the hugely successful EU settlement scheme and the government continues to use every possible channel to encourage those who are eligible to apply and secure the status they are entitled to.”
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