Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether, under the proposals in A Fairer Path to Settlement, they plan to introduce transitional protections to ensure that lawful residence already accrued under the long residence route will continue to count towards settlement for existing migrants, particularly those who have already accrued six or more years of residence and who would otherwise be eligible to apply for settlement from 2026 to 2030.

The earned settlement public consultation ran for 12 weeks and closed on 12 February 2026. We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model, including consideration of any potential exemptions or transitional measures for those already on a pathway to settlement.

Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both economic impact assessments and equality impact assessments which we will publish as well as the Government’s response in due course.