Midnight on 30 June is the deadline for applications for EU settled status (EUSS).
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Anyone who does not apply by the deadline will become unlawfully resident in the UK overnight.
‘They will be at risk of losing their jobs, bank accounts, tenancies, access to the NHS and welfare benefits.’
As of 23 April, however, applications had still not been received for 33% of the 3,660 looked after children and care leavers identified as eligible to apply for EU settled status, according to a Home Office survey.
Boyce said solicitors are continuing to inform the Law Society that many clients who are eligible have no idea they need to register under the scheme―indicating a far wider group across society who don’t appreciate the impending shift in their status.
Some mistakenly believe they do not need to apply, including those with permanent residence but not citizenship and parents who wrongly believe their children are automatically UK citizens because they were born in the UK.
Boyce said: ‘Solicitors working for local authorities are concerned about the responsibilities local authorities owe to these and other EU and EEA citizens who have not applied for the scheme in time for the deadline.
‘This would leave them unable to access state support. Local authorities require increased guidance and resources for making human rights assessments to be able to support an unprecedented number of vulnerable people from becoming destitute.
‘Clear contingency plans are urgently needed to prevent mass disenfranchisement overnight on 30 June. There will inevitably be those who fall through the cracks and the implications for each one of them could be shattering, as the Windrush generation testify.’
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