Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans his Department has to guarantee the (a) residency and (b) other associated rights to public services of EU nationals in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

In the event that the UK leaves the European Union without a deal, the Government will continue to operate the EU Settlement Scheme for European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss citizens resident in the UK by exit day and their family members, enabling them to obtain the UK immigration status which they will need in order to reside here permanently. This reflects the policy paper “Citizens’ Rights – EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU” published by the Department for Exiting the European Union on 6 December 2018 and updated on 28 March 2019.

In a ‘no deal’ scenario, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members lawfully residing in the UK by exit day will continue to be able to access in-country benefits and public services on broadly the same terms as now. This means that they will retain their entitlement to healthcare, education, benefits and social housing on the same basis as now, and that these entitlements will be subject to any future domestic policy changes which apply to UK nationals. Further information is in the policy paper “EU exit: eligibility arrangements to access public funds after free movement ends if there is no deal” published by the Department for Exiting the European Union on 26 March 2019.