If any of your employees are EU, EEA or Swiss citizens, they and their family will need to  apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living and working in the UK after 30 June 2021.  The EU Settlement Scheme applies to all EU, EEA or Swiss Citizens (excludes employees with Irish citizenship), therefore your employees will need to apply even if they:

  • were born in the UK but are not a British citizen
  • have a UK ‘permanent residence document’
  • are a family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who does not need to apply – including if they are from Ireland.
  • are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen with a British citizen family member

Whilst the deadline to apply is 30 June 2021, to be eligible employees must have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020. The EU Settlement Scheme is open and you should be encouraging your employees to apply now if they meet the criteria. The application is free, and in most cases relatively straight forward.

When employees apply to the EU Settlement Scheme successfully, they will be able to continue living and working in the UK after 30 June 2021.

Employees will  be given either:

  • settled status
  • pre-settled status

Settled status

You’ll usually get settled status if you’ve:

  • started living in the UK by 31 December 2020
  • lived in the UK for a continuous 5-year period (known as ‘continuous residence’)

Pre-settled status

If you do not have 5 years’ continuous residence when you apply, you’ll usually get pre-settled status. You must have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020. You can stay in the UK for a further 5 years from the date you get pre-settled status.

You can then apply to change this to settled status once you’ve got 5 years’ continuous residence. You must do this before your pre-settled status expires.

Your employee’s rights with settled or pre-settled status

They will be able to:

  • work in the UK
  • use the NHS for free, if they can at the moment
  • enrol in education or continue studying
  • access public funds such as benefits and pensions, if  eligible for them
  • travel in and out of the UK

If you have any queries please contact the Tax Team on 028 9032 3466.