Government's retrospective Earned Settlement proposals found "manifestly unfair" by House of Lords Committee

A welcome two months ahead of schedule, the House of Lords’ Justice and Home Affairs Committee has published its report on settlement, citizenship, and integration. The report was planned by the Committee in response to the Restoring Control over the Immigration System White Paper published in May 2025, the policy paper Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy, and the launch of the A Fairer Pathway to Settlement consultation. The latter is often referred to as the Earned Settlement consultation, which sets out changes including significantly increasing the pathway to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR, aka Settlement) from the current five qualifying period.

The Committee has commented on the proposals in the Earned Settlement consultation in detail, but has also taken a wider remit, looking at ‘what happens to people once they come to the UK and determine that they wish to make the UK their permanent home’. 

We have been using our sector-specific knowledge to draw attention to the dramatic impact which the Earned Settlement consultation’s proposal would have, particularly on our clients in the charity, faith, and education sectors.

Of particular note to our clients are the following findings:

• That the Committee does not support the Government’s proposals to extend the baseline qualifying period for ILR.
• Having a baseline 10 year route to Settlement would make the UK a restrictive “outlier” in comparison to approaches by comparable high-income countries.
• Extending the qualifying period would undermine integration, and increase the risk of poverty among low-income migrants caused by the costs of the additional immigration applications.
• Applying any changes to those already in the UK on routes to Settlement, would be “manifestly unfair – and may be unlawful” to those individuals, whilst also adversely impacting the UK’s reputation due to the retrospective changes, making the UK a “less attractive destination” in the future.
• The Government should increase their English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision, delivering it through a national strategy rather than postcode lottery, to ensure everyone has access to language provision, which in turn promotes integration.
• That children who grow up in the UK from a young age should usually receive ILR before they turn 18, which would support their integration and access to both further education and employment.
• A cap of 150% above administrative costs should be introduced on visa fees, to ensure they are reasonable.

The government is obliged to provide a response within two months, in line with Parliamentary procedure. We would, however, expect this timeline to be missed, given the current focus on leadership and the upcoming summer recess. We nonetheless hope that the Committee’s findings will be given significant weight when drafting any forthcoming changes to settlement in the UK.

Our Immigration Team continues to monitor developments regarding the earned settlement proposals and will keep our clients updated.