Grave concern for children in care without settled status

On 13 May, the Home Office updated its figures on looked-after children and implications on their right to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).

As of 26 November 2020, there were 3,300 looked after children and care leavers eligible to apply for settlement in the UK. Only 1,520 applications had been received. Many are still to be processed. Of the 64% decided, 86% were granted settled status and the remainder granted pre-settled status.

The remaining children face uncertainty. Most will not know their status will change. These are children who typically were born and raised here, or were legal when they arrived, but who will be deemed to be illegal by the Home Office.

Social workers are charged to act on their behalf and obtain settled status before their 18th birthday, but these services are overstretched and under-funded. Affected children will have No Recourse to Public Funds, housing or schooling. Tooting Councillor Judi Gasser, Shadow for Education and Children's Services, is seeking clarification of the numbers of children living in Wandsworth who will be affected.

See the full report here

Read a Guardian article about it here