PRESS RELEASE : £2.5 million funding boost to support vulnerable EUSS applicants [July 2023]

The press release issued by the Home Office on 6 July 2023.

An additional £2.5 million in grant funding will go to 17 organisations across the UK that support vulnerable people in applying to the EU Settlement Scheme.

The latest grant funding will continue through to spring 2025 and will bring the total amount of support for the grant funded network of organisations to £32 million since 2019.

This funding will help to ensure that support reaches a range of vulnerable groups, including those with disabilities, the elderly and isolated, children and victims of domestic violence or abuse, to help them apply to the EUSS, including to switch from pre-settled to settled status.

Home Office grant funding has already supported more than 490,000 vulnerable people in applying to the EUSS, ensuring that they secure their rights in the UK following our departure from the EU.

The network of grant funded organisations and their delivery partners are part of the wider support available to applicants through charities, community groups and local authorities across the UK. This includes the Assisted Digital service, helping those without appropriate digital access or skills to apply online.

Barbara Drozdowicz, Chief Executive Officer of the East European Resource Centre, said:

Thanks to generous support from the Home Office, here at the East European Resource Centre we have been supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable Eastern Europeans since 2019. Over four years we have supported thousands of people with information, advice and casework, reached those in isolation, assisted people with complex life situations.

Continued support from the Home Office allows us to sustain and seamlessly continue this essential service as welfare and wellbeing, life choices and quality rely now on holding correct immigration status that can be difficult to obtain by more vulnerable sections of our community.

Louise Humphries, Chief Executive Officer of GYROS said:

GYROS are delighted to be awarded this funding from the Home Office and we look forward to supporting vulnerable EU nationals with their settled status over the next 2 years.

Rhys Evans, Project Lead and Service and Development Manager at Settled (Wales) said:

Settled are delighted to have been granted Home Office funding for EUSS advice work in Wales, in conjunction with our new partners on this project, TGP Cymru. With both organisations already well established in Wales, the new grant will enable us to expand our much needed free, accredited, multilingual advice work to EU / EEA citizens living in Cymru; and especially to particularly vulnerable groups including Roma communities, people who are homeless or have suffered domestic abuse, individuals with physical or mental health conditions, and people with language, literacy, or digital exclusion barriers.