Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what monitoring and oversight systems are in place to check the accuracy and reliability of automated checks on applications for settled status by EU citizens in the UK; and in what proportion of cases, in each of the pilot schemes, errors have been found that resulted in the need for the intervention of a person.

Decisions to grant settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme are not automated. The scheme does use some elements of automation to make the application process streamlined and user-friendly. Such processes include the self-verification of identity and checks with existing government data. Each of these checks follow established rules to ensure accuracy and reliability.

There are several reasons why the automated element may need specific intervention by a person other than a system error. Inexact information supplied by an applicant, held by Government departments or their employers would mean a match to their records cannot be made or recorded. We do not make adverse decisions, like a decision to refuse an application for settled status, on the basis of automated decision making.

The scheme is still in the pilot phase and will open fully from 30 March. To date, 79% of applicants have been granted status based on government data without having to submit additional residence information. We do not expect a 100% match rate as those without a tax history and not in receipt of benefits or a state pension will have no matched government records.

The Home Office continually monitors all elements of the application process and continually improves them.