Newport Mind is sad to let you know that the Home Office gave Newport Mind notice to end the Supporting Vulnerable People with the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) project and the project has now closed.
The Home Office had offered much reduced (nearly 50% less) funding until March 2023. Newport Mind put forward a number of proposals to accommodate the Home Office cuts. However on the 25th of October the Home Office issued verbal notice to terminate the contract followed the next day by formal email confirmation of termination.
Newport Mind’s EUSS Project Team have worked with the Welsh Government, local authorities, health boards, the local Mind network and other Grant-funded organisations to raise awareness and provide practical application support to vulnerable EU nationals. The project has been incredibly successful, and over 2000 vulnerable individuals have been helped with advice and application support.
There will still be a need for this service into the future, EU citizens will have to re-apply to convert their pre-settled status to settled status, many applications for settled status are not finalised and many EU citizens are having difficulty proving that they have settled status which impacts jobs, housing and finances.
The loss of the support this service provides to EU citizens could have dire consequences on them, affecting their ability to find work, to secure accommodation, to access money and most seriously, could mean they lose the right to remain in Wales and risk deportation.
Newport Mind’s EUSS Project Team will work with current clients of the project and partners to ensure that, where possible, they still have access to the support they need. The Project Team would like to express their thanks to everyone who has played their part in supporting the project and the citizens of European Union.
