Home Affairs Committee Backs Protection for Existing 5-Year Route Holders Under Earned Settlement Reform

21 Mar 2026

earned settlement ILR settlement skilled worker family qualifying period policy

If you're on a Skilled Worker or Family visa and have been watching the government's earned settlement proposals with growing anxiety, there is one specific recommendation in the Home Affairs Committee's March report that deserves your attention — and that wasn't prominently covered when the report was first published.

The Home Affairs Committee's scrutiny report on earned settlement (HC 1409, published 13 March 2026) recommends that the current five-year ILR pathways — including Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Innovator Founder, and certain Family routes — should be grandfathered for everyone already on those routes. Under the committee's preferred option, anyone already in the UK on one of these routes would continue to qualify for ILR after 5 years, without needing to meet the proposed 10-year baseline or earn their way through the new contribution scoring system. The routes would then be closed to new applicants from 1 January 2027: people applying to come to the UK after that date would face the 10-year earned settlement model from the outset.

This is a committee recommendation, not government policy — and those are two different things. The Government has until 13 May 2026 to formally respond to the committee's report, and is not legally required to accept every recommendation. The core earned settlement framework — extending the standard qualifying period from 5 to 10 years — remains the Government's stated intention. However, the committee's explicit backing for grandfathering adds substantial parliamentary weight to the case for protecting those already partway through their qualifying period. That pressure was reinforced by near-unanimous backbench opposition at the 17 March Westminster Hall debate, where MPs from all parties urged the Government not to apply the new rules retrospectively.

What "grandfathered" means in practice: If the Government accepted this recommendation, your current 5-year qualifying period would be locked in regardless of when new rules come into force. You would not be required to meet the 10-year baseline or pass any contribution scoring test. You would apply for ILR under the rules in place when you arrived — the same rules that applied when you made the decision to come and build your life here.

For BNO holders: Your 5-year route is already separately protected and is unaffected by this debate. The Government has confirmed on multiple occasions — including in the HC 1691 Statement of Changes and at the 17 March Westminster Hall debate — that Hong Kong BNO holders are not subject to the earned settlement 10-year baseline. The committee's recommendation does not change or affect that protection.

What to do now: Nothing yet — but watch the Government's formal response, due by 13 May 2026. That response will be the clearest signal yet of whether the Government intends to grandfather existing holders or apply new rules to everyone. Until then, continue planning your ILR application on the basis of current rules. The autumn 2026 implementation window means no changes to settlement requirements are expected before then.

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