With the Government consultation closing on February 12^th, Hackney Councillor Claudia Turbet-Delof issues an urgent call to action.

As a Hackney Councillor, and proudly a migrant woman, I am making an urgent call to action to the public, community organisations, trade unions, universities, charities, employers and all those who believe in justice, dignity and human rights to respond to the UK Government consultation on the proposed “earned settlement” scheme before the deadline on 12 February.

These proposals would fundamentally harden the UK’s immigration system by delaying Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and embedding punishment, precarity and inequality into routes to settlement. They risk forcing migrants to remain on temporary, insecure visas for 10, 15 or even 20 years, turning settlement into a moving target rather than a point of safety, stability and belonging.

What is really being proposed

The main headlines of the proposals include:

●  Doubling the default qualifying period for settlement from five to ten years

●  Extending settlement routes to 15 years for people on the Skilled Worker route in roles below RQF Level 6 (degree level)

●  Imposing a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition even at Settlement, extending exclusion into what should be the final stage of security.

At the heart of these reforms is a deeply unequal, two-tier settlement system. A small group of higher-earning migrants — those earning between £50,000 and £125,000 a year – would be rewarded with accelerated routes to ILR, while the vast majority of migrants could face penalties extending their route to settlement to 15 or even 20 years. Wealth is rewarded with security; ordinary working people are punished with prolonged precarity, regardless of contribution, care work or community ties.

Punishing people for accessing Public Funds

Under the proposals, people who claim public funds — such as benefits or housing assistance — could face five or ten-year penalties added to their route to settlement. This means that illness, job loss, disability, pregnancy, caring responsibilities or housing crisis could result in years of additional punishment.

This is cruel, unnecessary and inhumane.

Shockingly, the consultation also asks whether basic protections should be retained at all. It puts up for debate whether survivors of domestic abuse, bereaved partners, children and young adults who grew up undocumented, and adults with long-term care needs should retain their current arrangements or be subjected to harsher settlement rules. No one in these situations should ever have their right to stability questioned or made conditional.

Retrospective injustice

Crucially, the consultation also asks whether these harsher rules should be applied retrospectively, meaning people already on a lawful route to settlement could have the goalposts moved mid-journey. This means that hundreds of thousands— and potentially over a million — people currently living in the UK without ILR could be directly affected by these reforms if they are applied to existing visa holders. This includes people on work, family and other routes who had been expecting to qualify for settlement under the existing five-year system who have planned their lives, finances and families around existing rules. Changing the rules retrospectively is fundamentally unjust and deeply destabilising.

The welfare argument does not hold

These reforms are justified using claims about protecting the welfare state. Yet evidence shows the opposite. According to Policy in Practice’s Missing Out 2024 report, around £23 billion in public funds goes unclaimed every year due to fear, complexity and exclusion — not over-use. Penalising migrants for accessing support will not save money; it will deepen poverty, increase exploitation, and shift costs onto councils, charities and communities.

Colonial responsibility and asylum

Many people seeking asylum and refugee protection today come from countries historically harmed by the British Empire — through economic extraction, land occupation and political destabilisation. Offering safety to those risking their lives for security, food and a future should be a core British value, grounded in historical responsibility, justice and humanity, not punishment or deterrence.

Reparations, not deportations. A different path is possible

It is shameful that a Labour Government continues to lean on anti-migrant rhetoric, appealing to far-right narratives instead of showing the bold, progressive and humanist leadership this moment demands. These proposals pit communities against each other, recycling colonial and authoritarian language that undermines solidarity and social cohesion.

There is another path. In Spain, the government is moving to regularise at least half a million migrants, recognising that real security comes from inclusion, dignity and rights — and that countries move forward by uniting all who live there, not by scapegoating migrants to chase reactionary votes.

As a councillor working daily with families affected by hostile immigration systems — and as someone who knows personally what it means to build a life across borders — I am clear: ILR should be a foundation for belonging, not a prolonged test of worth.

Our call is clear:

●  Respond to the consultation

●  Reject the “earned settlement” model

●  Say no to penalties for claiming public funds

●   Oppose retrospective changes to settlement rules

● Defend Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) as a point of stability and dignity

●  Choose solidarity over scapegoating.

ACT NOW

Deadline: 11:59pm, 12th February. Respond to the consultation here. You do not need to be an expert. You can respond as an individual, worker, student, organisation or ally. Please complete the consultation and share this call widely — across workplaces, trade unions, universities, community spaces and networks.

Cllr Claudia Turbet-Delof is a Hackney Socialist Independent.

Read more on Labour Hub about the Government’s proposals here and here, and edited extracts from this week’s Parliamentary debate here.

Image: c/o Labour Hub.