Help us defend EU citizens’ rights to live with dignity | Donate to our Crowdjustice
the3million is ready to go to court to hold this government to account for restricting the rights of marginalised EU citizens and family members. We need your help to build a strategic litigation fund which will enable us to intervene quickly in a series of individual cases.
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We're hoping to raise as much as possible for our fighting fund. Typically, each £10,000 will fund an important legal intervention, which could set legal precedent and help get rights recognised.
No matter where we were born, the colour of our skin, or how much we earn, we all deserve to live with dignity in the country we call home.
But this government is pushing many of our friends, family and neighbours into destitution by unfairly denying immigration status and help when it’s needed. People will be waking up today worrying about how to put food on the table and pay their bills.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can work together and leverage the power of the law to get this government to support communities to be resilient, ensuring everyone has access to the support we need.
How can the3million contribute to making sure EU citizens and family members are not abandoned by the government?
We believe there are legal arguments to be made to ensure EU citizens are treated fairly under the law, and are granted the correct immigration status, with access to all the rights they are entitled to, including welfare when needed.
We have identified a number of areas where EU citizens and their family members are not being treated fairly.
The Government does not consider all people with EU Settlement Scheme status to be Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries. Our interventions want to ensure that everyone with EUSS status has access to the full package of rights that were promised.
The Government secretly considers some to be part of a ‘true cohort’ and others to be part of an ‘extra cohort’ - but doesn’t tell anyone which cohort they fall into when they grant them status.
This leads to many thousands of vulnerable people falling into destitution because they are denied Universal Credit, homelessness assistance and other benefits when they are deemed to be in the 'extra cohort'. It also creates a large and unnecessary pressure on the courts, as vulnerable people need to rely on judges to confirm they have a right to social assistance.
Our interventions will aim to erase the problematic distinction between ‘true’ and ‘extra’ cohort, and ensure that everyone with status under the EU Settlement Scheme has the right to equal treatment as guaranteed by the Withdrawal Agreement.
Ella** is a Danish citizen who came to the UK in 2011, but struggled to prove her residence so she was only granted pre-settled status instead of settled status. She had a job for many years but during the pandemic lost her job after she suffered for many months with the after effects of a severe Covid infection. It had an impact on her mental health, and she struggled to return to work.
As her savings depleted, she applied for Universal Credit but was refused, as her pre-settled status was not considered to make her eligible. Faced with potential eviction and homelessness, she turned to her local council, but was similarly refused homeless assistance.
Some groups of family members of EU citizens are at the moment unfairly refused status. Our interventions will aim to expand who is eligible to be granted immigration status through the EU Settlement Scheme.
Jorge** is a Colombian citizen who moved to the UK with his Spanish mum when he was 18. When the UK left the EU, Jorge had to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. He was 22 at the time, had just graduated from university and had been excited to start his first job and move into a flatshare with friends.
However, the Home Office refused him status. They justify this by saying Jorge is no longer eligible because he’s now over 21 and he no longer financially depends on his mum. Had he still been 21, or had he moved back in with his mum and not accepted that job, the Home Office would have considered him eligible.
How our legal interventions could create systemic change
We are constantly coming across legal cases which would benefit from our arguments about scope and equal treatment under the Withdrawal Agreement. We have intervened in one such case already, concerning the family member of an EU citizen with pre-settled status who was denied homelessness assistance.
During the hearing it was clear that our intervention was helpful to the court, and we are awaiting judgment. We have published a note on the legal arguments that we used, and hope to use again in other cases.
the3million has demonstrated itself to be a responsible litigant in previous cases, both as claimant and as intervener. In one judgment, the judge said the answer to a legal question was “most precisely articulated” in our submissions.
In order to set precedent that has to be followed by other judges, cases must reach the more senior courts. To give us the best chance of having our arguments heard and properly considered by these senior courts, it is in our interest to intervene earlier on too: for example in the County Court, Immigration Tribunal, or Social Security and Child Support Tribunal.
Where is the money going?
In order to make interventions in these cases, we often need to move very quickly. This is why we are aiming to raise funds to cover our legal costs, so we can be agile and intervene as soon as possible.
Interventions are generally cost effective, as we would generally only need to pay our own legal costs, rather than also being at risk of paying the other side's legal costs if the case doesn't go our way.
Our lawyers’ costs for an intervention will vary depending on the issues at hand and the nature of the intervention (i.e. whether we just make written submissions or appear in court to make oral arguments). Our legal team agreed to do our latest important intervention (kindly funded by the Strategic Legal Fund) for just under £10,000.
Their work on this case included extensive legal strategising and two full days in court, so other interventions are likely to cost less than this and will build on the strategic legal thinking we’ve already done.
We know that the solicitors and barristers that we work with are committed to and support our aims, and want to work as cost effectively as possible, so we can all maximise the impact the3million can have.
As a not-for-profit organisation, the3million does not have resources dedicated to cover these costs, so we are reaching out to people to support these interventions. All Crowdjustice funds raised will go towards this for as long as we can identify legal challenges in which our intervention will add value. We anticipate this will last for several years. Any funds remaining when this campaign is closed will be used to support the3million’s work advocating for EU citizens’ rights.
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Thank you!
*the3million uses ‘EU citizens’ as shorthand for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who were resident in the UK before 31 December 2020, and their family members (of any nationality) with derived rights.
** These examples are for illustrative purposes only. They show the type of cases and personal circumstances our litigation will benefit from. Personal details are not attributed to already ongoing work.
