London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

EU citizens who miss UK settled status cutoff to lose some free healthcare

EU citizens who miss UK settled status cutoff to lose some free healthcare

Those who miss 30 June deadline will immediately be charged for non-urgent NHS treatment
EU citizens who fail to secure settled status by the 30 June deadline will immediately lose access to free non-urgent NHS healthcare, despite a government pledge to be “extremely understanding” about late applications.

Some details of how swiftly different departments will apply hostile environment policies to EU citizens who have not secured the new post-Brexit immigration status by the cutoff date have emerged in responses to a series of parliamentary questions.

But campaigners are concerned that there is still no clarity about whether EU citizens who miss the deadline but who continue to work in the UK will be committing a criminal offence. There was also no clear Home Office response to parliamentary questions seeking to clarify whether employers face prosecution if they employ an EU citizen who has not applied for EU settled status (EUSS) after the end of June.

Alliance MP Stephen Farry sought to clarify the grey area with Boris Johnson during prime minister’s questions, asking if illegal working legislation would be applied to EU citizens who continue to work despite missing the deadline. “Can the prime minister assure the House that EU citizens or non-EU family members who miss the deadline will not face potential criminal liability if they continue to go into work?” he asked.

Johnson said he was “sure that the law will be extremely merciful to anybody who finds themselves in a difficult position”.

The government has consistently said it will have a “flexible and pragmatic approach to considering late applications”, but with less than five weeks to go before the deadline, there is rising concern about the lack of detail over the practical consequences for EU citizens who fail to apply in time.

Despite the “merciful” approach hinted at by the prime minister, responses to parliamentary questions revealed that some departments have clearer guidance than others.

In written responses, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said that those who failed to secure status will no longer be eligible for homelessness assistance, immediately after the deadline. The Department of Health said those EU citizens living in the UK who failed to apply in time would instantly start to be charged for non-urgent NHS treatment.

However, asked about whether employers would be obliged to sack EU employees who had failed to get status by the deadline, the Home Office responded: “Further information will be provided to employers shortly about what they should do if they have an employee who finds themselves in this situation.”

Asked about the responsibility of landlords to refuse to rent to EU tenants who had failed to secure the correct immigration status by the deadline, the Home Office said in a separate response to a parliamentary question that it would be updating its guidance and communicating with landlords “in the coming weeks”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The EU settlement scheme has been open now for more than two years and we are pleased we have already surpassed 5.4 million applications. We urge all those eligible to apply as soon as possible so they secure the status they deserve in UK law.

“We have been clear that where a person has reasonable grounds for missing the 30 June deadline, they will be given a further opportunity to apply.

“We will be updating our guidance and communicating with employers in the coming weeks to set out the support available. We will make sure they are clear on the steps they should take from 1 July if they have an employee who finds themselves in this situation.”

A spokesperson added that anyone who has applied to the scheme by the 30 June deadline but has not had a decision by then will have their rights protected until a decision is made on their application; there is currently a backlog of around 300,000 applicants waiting for a decision.

Caitlin Boswell, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “The law states that EU citizens who don’t apply by the deadline will automatically fall out of status and lose their right to work, rent and access NHS care. But with a month till the deadline the Home Office is refusing to address this harsh reality, leaving other government departments to fill in the blanks.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×