Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department checks the tax and benefit records of applicants to the EU Settlement Scheme who have been in the UK for less than five years and are applying for pre-settled status.

Automated checks are run against any application for status under the EU Settlement Scheme where the applicant provides a National Insurance Number with their application.

If the applicant agrees with the result of the automated check, either for pre-settled or settled status, we will not ask them for any further evidence of UK residence. If the check confirms that the applicant is eligible for pre-settled status but the applicant feels that they are eligible for settled status instead they then given the option to provide further evidence confirming this.

Information on how the automated checks calculate periods of UK residence, as well as the tax and benefit records that are included in the automated checks, has been published on gov.uk and can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-settlement-scheme-uk-tax-and-benefits-records-automated-check