Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why their Looked-after Children and Care leavers: EU Settlement Scheme Local Authorities and Social Care Trusts Guidance, published on 3 April, makes no reference to the legal aid available to unaccompanied and separated children in care through exceptional case funding.

The Home Office designed the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) to be: free of charge; streamlined; and user-friendly. The majority of applicants apply with-out the need for advice from a lawyer on rights to enter or remain. Although legal aid is available, we did not anticipate the vast majority of applicants would need legal aid.

The Home Office has created and issued guidance about the EUSS to help local authorities and Health and Social Care Trusts understand their responsibilities for supporting looked after children and care leavers and how to apply. Although the EUSS was designed to be as simple as possible, we have committed to working with applicants to ensure they obtain the status they need where required. The guidance is clear that where necessary, because of case complexity, or if there is any doubt about how to proceed, that the LA or HSCT may consider obtaining independent legal advice, in line with their own organisational processes and policies.

The guidance is intended to help local authorities and HSCT staff navigate information available on gov.uk by pulling together relevant information relating to looked after children and care leavers into one simple straight forward document. It is also the intention that this information pack will be updated and added to as and when required.