Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many non-Irish EU citizens over the age of 65 living in Scotland they estimate have not applied for the EU Settlement Scheme.

The latest published information to the end of December 2020 shows 3,670 people over the age of 65, resident in Scotland, were granted settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and a further 1,080 were granted pre-settled status, representing 98.5% of applications concluded for over 65s resident in Scotland. 20 applications were refused on eligibility or suitability grounds, 40 were withdrawn or void and less than 10 were invalid.

The latest figures can be found in table EUSS_04 on the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme statistics’ web page available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-quarterly-statistics-december-2020

The published figures for the EUSS refer specifically to applications made to the scheme and cannot be directly compared with Office for National Statistics estimates of the resident population of EU/EEA nationals in the UK. The published EUSS figures include non-EEA national family members, Irish nationals and eligible EEA citizens not resident in the UK, none of whom are usually included in ONS estimates of the resident EU/EEA national population.

Furthermore, the population estimates do not take account of people’s migration intentions and will include people who have come to the UK for a range of purposes, including some who have no intention to settle in the UK.

On 1 April 2021, the Home Office published non-exhaustive guidance on what constitutes reasonable grounds for missing the 30 June 2021 deadline for applications to the EUSS by those EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, and their family members, resident in the UK by the end of the transition period. This will underpin a flexible and pragmatic approach to considering late applications under the scheme, including in light of illness and disability issues.

The guidance can be found in ‘Making an application: deadline’ in ‘EU Settlement Scheme: EU, other EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members’ at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-settlement-scheme-caseworker-guidance