Thousands of EU care home residents unaware they have to apply to stay in UK, could face deportation

Countless care home residents as well as older people living in their own homes are unaware they need to apply to stay in the UK as they are from the EU, which puts them at risk of being deported, says a charity.

Due to Brexit, every EU national living in the UK must apply for Settled or Pre-Settled Status, before the deadline of 30 June, or they will lose their rights to live and work in the country.

The charity Settled said it is regularly coming across elderly people who are living apart from their local communities and families and have been unable to apply for their Settled or Pre-Settled Status, or were completely unaware they had to do so.

Kate Smart, chief executive of Settled said: "We are finding that many of the elderly people we are helping had assumed they didn't need to apply because of long term residency in the UK. On top of that, we have not been able to reach out to those in care during the pandemic. We are now approaching care homes, but the devastation left in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic means there is still much to do.

“This is an incredibly worrying situation and could be a tragedy in the making. Thousands of elderly, long-term residents of the UK, many of them in care, could find themselves illegal in the country they have called home for decades."

Age UK estimates there are 131,000 people aged 65+ in the UK who are nationals of EU countries other than the UK.

The latest figures from the Home Office show 4,916,280 people have applied for the EU Settlement Scheme. Of these,111,130 were made from applicants aged 65 and over.

The charity is becoming increasingly concerned and says it has “frightened octogenarians ringing its helpline every day”.

You can only apply to the scheme online and Settled fears this excludes many older people who do not have access to the internet.

Ms Smart said: "Due to the lockdown, Settled has been unable to hold outreach visits to care homes and communication has been difficult as carers have been tackling the pandemic foremost. We are extremely concerned that this is a major issue in the making and we must do all we can to reach elderly people and those in care before the deadline of 30 June."

Earlier this year, a European embassy began contacting elderly residents it has registered as living in the country. They and their families have since been approaching Settled's language-based helplines in high numbers.

Settled revealed it had one call from the daughter of a 91-year-old man who is bed bound and can't get an appointment to renew his passport. She has asked for a paper application as the EU Settlement Scheme is a digital-only process, but claims she had to plead for it. Consequently, the charity said her father is in distress after spending most of his life in the UK and feels he has been let down by everyone, as he has been living in the UK since 1957.

Settled wants to highlight to EU care workers that they also need to apply to the scheme by 30 June.

“At present, only one in seven EU care workers in the UK are unaware of the need to apply, and we know that care homes employ many workers,” added Ms Smart.

Settled was set up in 2019 by concerned EU citizens. It has a small team of staff who coordinate a network of 100 volunteers throughout the UK and is registered to provide immigration advice.

You can apply to the EU Settlement Scheme here