Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 6 March (HL14995), what estimate they have made of the number of individuals currently holding leave under the appendix to the European Communities Association Agreement who have not yet obtained indefinite leave to remain; and what assessment they have made of the potential impact on those individuals of the earned settlement proposals set out in A Fairer Pathway to Settlement (CP 1448), published on 20 November 2025.

As set out in the Written Answer (HL14995) implementation of the earned settlement arrangements will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.

In the meantime, Appendix ECAA Settlement will continue to apply. Time spent in routes that currently count towards settlement after 5 years will also continue to count towards the new standard qualifying period.

Based on the latest published data, as of the end of December 2025, there had been around 18,000 grants of settlement since 2020 to individuals who previously held leave under the ECAA route, including ECAA workers, business persons and dependants. It is not possible to confirm the exact number of ECAA leave holders who have not yet obtained settlement.