Digitalisation of work and rent checks could lead to new scandal, campaigners warn

LONDON:

Legal experts and campaigners have warned that a new government requirement for employers and private landlords to check the immigration status of workers and potential tenants before offering them employment or housing could lead to a new Windrush-style scandal.

The warning comes after the Home Office enacted changes to rules in April which outlaw the use of paper documents held by those eligible to stay in the UK after Brexit and instead will rely on the move to digitalise rent and work checks that could cause thousands of people, including the vulnerable, to lose their jobs or homes.

This is reminiscent of what happened in 2018 when the Home Office was heavily criticised after it emerged that hundreds of people welcomed to the UK decades before had been denied access to basic rights such as housing and work, with some even deported, due to a lack of official documentation.

It later emerged that the government had destroyed thousands of paper landing cards recording the dates Windrush immigrants arrived in the UK, despite warnings the move would make it difficult for older Caribbean nationals to prove how long they had been in the country.

Ministers subsequently apologised and pledged to “learn lessons” from what had happened to ensure that the problems would not repeat themselves.

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s shadow home secretary, quoted in the Independent newspaper said: “The Home Office has totally failed to learn the lessons of the Windrush scandal. Once again they are putting people’s homes, jobs and livelihoods at risk.

“Requiring landlords and employers only to do online checks when many of them either can’t or won’t will create even more risk of unfair discrimination and hostile treatment. This is the opposite of the approach Wendy Williams recommended in the Windrush Review.

“It is shocking that Home Office ministers have done this and is a betrayal of the commitments made both to EU citizens who have lived here for years and to the Windrush generation.”

Zehrah Hasan, advocacy director at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: “Instead of learning lessons from Windrush, this government has decided to entrench and expand the hostile environment which was at the root of the scandal.

“We warned them that keeping this dangerous set of policies would push thousands more people into destitution and risk of deportation, including many EU nationals post-Brexit. Sadly for many, those fears are now becoming a reality.”

Evidence of lawful status

The ban on physical documents has come about because ministers want to make the entire border and immigration system “digital by default” by 2024.

However an assessment, written last October before the policy came into force, but only published last week, also admits that some people have not applied for EU settlement because they believe they can rely on physical documents, such as a biometric residence card (BRC), to prove their leave to remain.

Employers or landlords can now be liable for a civil penalty if they accept the card as proof.

“Some individuals believe they can rely on Home Office-issued documents that don’t expire until well into the future, such as an unexpired BRC (up to 2030) as evidence of lawful status,” the document states.

“Posts on the Home Office Facebook page prior to the end of the grace period confirmed some believe they do not need to make an application until their BRC expires.”

The assessment warns that by last June, 51,000 eligible people had not yet applied. The Home Office has declined to provide an updated figure.

Meanwhile, Luke Piper, legal director at charity the3million, said thousands of people eligible for EU settlement but who do not realise they need to apply will be affected by the move.

“They had legal status before Brexit happened, then Brexit happened and took their rights away,” he added. “The Home Office said they had to apply and were saying at that time, very loudly, that not everybody is going to apply in time and they will feel the consequences of it. This is exactly that cohort.

“These people were living here lawfully, they had a legitimate expectation that they were allowed to stay, they didn’t follow an administrative process, and they’re now losing out on work, rent and other things that they would otherwise be entitled to. That’s pretty much identical to Windrush.”