Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will introduce an exemption from earnings requirement for indefinite leave to remain for persons who were (a) children or (b) enrolled in higher education for all or part of the relevant qualifying period.

The earned settlement model, proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, is currently subject to a public consultation, running until 12 February 2026.

The Immigration White Paper included a commitment to consult on these changes. The changes involve significant reforms to the settlement pathway, and it is right that we consult to assess their impact on affected groups.

In the case of children, it is acknowledged that many of the requirements in the earned settlement mode– such as the mandatory earnings requirement or meeting an income threshold – cannot be met by those who may still be children at the point that their parents become eligible for settlement. At the same time, however, the introduction of an earned settlement system with a longer baseline qualifying period does bring into focus whether and how those who turn 18 during their parents’ qualifying period should be brought within earned settlement principles and be expected to qualify for settlement in their own right.

The consultation questionnaire therefore includes questions seeking views on how dependants should be accommodated within an earned settlement system, and whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement.

Details of the final earned settlement scheme will be finalised once the consultation has closed and the responses analysed.

The government’s response to the consultation will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.