Projects & Partnerships 30 June 2022

After Brexit

New report highlights success of the EU advice project in Wandsworth and describes what can be accomplished when political will, resources, and partnerships are focused together to address a problem.

After Brexit: Helping our residents secure their rights is a short progress report produced by CAW on their EU Project, which has been delivered in partnership with Wandsworth council since November 2017. Wandsworth Council was one of the first local authorities in the UK to fund a service helping EU citizens to secure their rights to live in the UK.

Throughout this time partners from across the borough have collaborated to ensure the dissemination of key messages, and that people most in need of help are reached. The Citizens Advice Wandsworth (CAW) team have delivered 141 public information events and outreach sessions attended by 1,464 Wandsworth residents and 1,029 professionals, and have provided information and advice to over 1,000 individuals on over 2,200 issues. The project has raised awareness about the need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and assisted borough residents to continue living lawfully in the UK.

Initially, the CAW EU advice service focused on explaining to local EU residents the impact of imminent changes to their rights. Over time, the engagement work developed to reach vulnerable groups with 24% of clients having a disability or health issue and 20% being homeless.

“The EU Project is an example of the great outcomes that can be achieved when local authority and voluntary sector work in partnership. We have been able to support many clients thanks to the positive collaboration with Wandsworth Council, South West London Law Centre and our many voluntary, community and faith partners who have all helped us ensure our service reaches those who need it” says the charity’s CE, Mary-Ann Foxwell.

Kheira, a project client said:

‘Thank you for advising us and always with great kindness. We went through lots of different problems concerning the residence stay, and the rehousing. We were able to be rehoused and settled our residence documents. Without your very precious help we could not have done anything by ourselves because we do not have the money to pay advisers. Thank you for your interest to us, our integration has been successfully because of your help.’

The deadline to apply to the EUSS was 30 June 2021, but it is still possible to submit a ‘late application’ if a person has a valid reason to have missed the deadline. The Charity will be offering support at least until September 2022, and invites EU citizens and their non-EU family member to contact the EU Project to get support for late EUSS applications or any issues affecting their rights in the UK:

Online referral form: www.cawandsworth.org/eu-project

Email: euadviceservice@cawandsworth.org

Phone: 07761 917510 Monday to Friday 10 am to 4pm

Ends

Notes to Editors

· CAW have two clients who are willing to talk to the media (details below)

· The charity has worked with 1,012 clients since November 2017, advising on 2,236 issues.

· The experiences of clients who engaged with the EU Advice Service in the early stage of the project can be seen on the Wandsworth website here.

· You can contact Khiera to hear her experience of getting support from the EU Project on 07428 036385.

· The report details local experiences behind national figures of high volumes of applications to the EU Settlement Scheme. 207% residents applied compared to the European population estimate in Wandsworth (taken from the 2011 census).

For more details contact:

- The EU project manager Lucia Palma Lucia.Palma@cawandsworth.org , or

- CAW’s Chief Executive Mary-Ann Foxwell mary-ann.foxwell@cawandsworh.org

Carla

· Contacted us for help last week (June 2022)

· Was born in the UK in 2003 and has lived here all her life, she is Portuguese by heritage (her parents came in 1975).

· She has tried to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, but the Home office rejected her application due to lack of evidence of her residency on the UK.

· Carla is actually automatically British (*) because her parents had Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK when Carla was born. Despite this she has also been turned down for a passport.

(*) not everyone born in the UK is automatically British and rules to establish citizenship are quite complex.

Carla can be contacted on 07708 051 795

Kheira

· Kheira is a European citizen who came to the UK just over 5 years ago.

· We helped Kheira and her family to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme a few years ago. At that time they could only be granted pre-settled status, giving them limited rights to live in the UK.

· A few months ago we helped Kheira to upgrade to settled status which gives her full rights to live in the UK

Khiera can be contacted on 07428 036385