Is the EU settlement scheme really as effective as the Home Office claims?

Analysis: Priti Patel’s celebratory remarks about the process are all well and good – until you look at the cold, hard facts, says May Bulman

Also hidden in the figures are more than 7,600 applicants who were given ‘other outcomes’ (PA)

“I am thrilled that we have had two million applications to the EU Settlement Scheme so that EU citizens can secure their immigration status under UK law,” Home Secretary Priti Patel said on Wednesday morning. Her gushing remarks were in response to the latest statistics on EU nationals applying for post-Brexit status. They show a surge in applications for September, marking by far the highest monthly figure since the scheme opened.

The fact that more EU citizens living in Britain are applying to secure their status is of course a good thing. There has been widespread concern about the fact that anyone who hasn’t applied once the UK leaves the bloc – either June 2021 or December 2020 – will be left with no rights and at the mercy of the government’s hostile environment policies.

But what Ms Patel refrained from addressing is the proportion of applicants who are still waiting for decisions. Yes, two million have applied; yes, only two have been refused on “suitability grounds”. But take a closer look into the statistics and 335,700 – or 18 per cent – have not yet been concluded. For a process that is supposed to take five days, this seems a lot.