On 4th February, the Home Affairs Committee met with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to discuss the work of the Home Office. Some key takeaways from the meeting include the acknowledgment that the new rules are intended to have a retrospective effect. The Home Secretary responded, "I recognise that significant changes are potentially happening."
She also warned that some impact on individuals already in the UK is inevitable, stating, "It is inconceivable that literally nobody who is currently here would be affected by any of these changes, and I think we should be upfront about that."
A week prior, there was a debate in Westminster Hall where many MPs highlighted the impact of proposed changes on their constituents, describing the uncertainty and anxiety these changes have caused for individuals and families already residing in the UK.
Labour MP Tony Vaughan expressed concern that the proposed changes would "move the goalposts" for migrants who arrived in the UK expecting a five-year route to settlement, warning that such retrospective reforms would betray their trust.
We Belong's main concern was that the retrospective nature of these rules would also affect previous concessions, including the Private Life Route. This route was established after the Home Office recognised the cohort of young people living in the UK and reduced the settlement period for children and young people in this situation.
Essentially, this rule allows children and young people who have lived in the UK for at least seven years, or half of their lives, to be eligible for settlement after five years instead of the proposed ten or fifteen years.
We Belong received numerous emails and submissions from concerned community members and their families, inquiring about the potential impact of these changes.
During the same session, the Home Secretary was directly questioned by Dr. Peter Prinsley MP, who quoted Chrisann, using her phrase "state-sponsored unwantedness," regarding whether the government planned to uphold the existing five-year route.
The Home Secretary responded by referring to commitments made in the White Paper by her predecessor, Yvette Cooper, which ensure that routes to settlement for children who have spent most of their lives in the UK will remain unchanged despite the new proposals.
She stated:
“We will protect the position of those that are already here and in line with the commitments that we made with the immigration white paper last summer. But separately to that there will obviously be a consideration of the new system, and we will want to make sure that they’re coherent and sit together properly. Again, that is the point of the consultation. But the pre-existing commitments to children we will fulfil and honour.”
Dr. Prinsley replied, "I think people will find that very reassuring."
However, she clarified that broader questions about how children fit into an earned settlement system were still open. "That is exactly what we are consulting on," she said when asked when a child might qualify if their parents faced a longer route. She added that ministers would "look very carefully" at how to treat younger and older children under the redesigned system.
Addressing concerns about spiralling Home Office fees, the Secretary defended that "settlement is a privilege, not a right." She explained that it would be "unfair to charge some people and not others" and emphasised that "there are costs associated with processing these applications." Ultimately, she stated that the responsibility for bringing children to the UK falls on their parents, not the state.
The Government's public consultation on "earned settlement" closed on February 12, 2026, with the official number of responses exceeding around 130,000, according to the Home Secretary.
We Belong is looking forward to receiving full confirmation from the Home Office after the consultation. Our priority is to ensure fair pathways for children and their families while preventing ongoing disruption in the lives of migrant families.
