Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken to respond to requests submitted to the Employer Checking Service.

Digital status has been an overwhelming success. Millions of customers have used the Home Office’s digital services which enable customers to prove their immigration status immediately. Data on the usage of our digital services can be found on the GOV.UK webpage: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

As part of the continuing transformation of the border and immigration system, we will phase out physical and paper-based products and services and replace them with accessible, easy to use online and digital services. These new services, alongside new technologies, will remove certain scenarios where customers have to rely on the Employer Checking Service to prove their permission to work, helping reduce the need for employers to submit queries in future.

The home office is currently recruiting additional staff to reduce the time taken to respond to requests on the Employer Checking Service. Information on the number of requests submitted to the Employer Checking Service and awaiting a response as of 25 May 2022 is not available in a reportable format as it is unassured management information.