Overview
- Official Home Office data and reporting show roughly 199,628 people were granted indefinite leave to remain in the 12 months to June and more than 200,000 have gained ILR since ministers first proposed tougher rules.
- The government’s White Paper would lengthen the baseline qualifying period for settlement from five years to ten years and add longer waits for lower-skilled workers and benefit claimants while offering faster routes for high earners.
- The Home Office says it received about 200,000 consultation responses and is still considering them, leaving the retrospective application of the reforms unresolved and implementation delayed.
- Labour is publicly split over the plan, with senior figures and unions arguing retrospective changes would breach trust for people already living in the UK and the Home Secretary indicating she may need to soften the proposals.
- The department estimates 1.6 million to 2.2 million people could be eligible for settlement between 2026 and 2030 and has warned of a roughly £10 billion 'lifetime cost' to the taxpayer, with a large share linked to health and care worker visas that independent research has criticised.