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The Home Office is under investigation over whether it has fulfilled its obligations to EU citizens in this country who are seeking settled status.

The inquiry launched by the Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA),  the watchdog set up to look after EU citizens’ rights in Britain, will look into allegations of delays in providing EU citizens with the paperwork needed to work and access basic services in the UK after Brexit.

It comes after the watchdog spent months compiling complaints from EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) applicants who experienced delays in receiving their certificates of application.

The EUSS was designed for EU/EEA/Swiss citizens who came to the UK before January 2021 and wish to continue living here, and for their family members of any nationality who wish to join them in the UK.

How does the scheme work?

It is an important certificate, post-Brexit, as it can be used as evidence of what rights they have in this country, including the right to work, rent or access benefits.

The Brexit withdrawal deal states that the UK must issue the documents immediately after receiving an application, while their application to remain is being considered.

The inquiry will assess whether there is any breach of the Brexit Withdrawal and Separation Agreements.

How can employers take on EU nationals?

• Employers faced with a skills gap can help potential employees from the EU by making sure they are aware of the EUSS scheme, but the application is down to the individual. However, the employer can direct them to the relevant Government sites for more help.
• From July 2021, employers are required to carry out right to work checks on any non-UK citizens, but not on existing employees before this point.
• If a business is looking to recruit an EU citizen from outside the UK, but they are not eligible for settlement, it must follow the new immigration system to enable them to move for work.

What powers does the watchdog have?

The IMA, which has the power to take legal action against the Government, is expected to interview officials and review policies and processes adopted by the Home Office as part of the probe.

In response to the IMA’s announcement, the Home Office said it has implemented the citizens’ rights provisions of the Brexit divorce deal in good faith, will collaborate with the inquiry and will consider the watchdog’s report in full upon completion.

For help and advice and related matters contact our expert team today.

UK exports to the EU are still significantly below pre-Brexit levels, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

There has been a recovery after a steep drop of 40 per cent in January 2021 at the end of the transition period, according to the figures.

Trade recovered to finish last year down 11 per cent, based on the figures from 2018, which are seen as the most reliable comparison, as Brexit stockpiling and the pandemic subsequently affected trade.

‘Nightmare week after week’

One business told the Guardian newspaper it was like “the same nightmare week after week”.

Mark Brearley’s company, Kaymet, has made and sold tea trolleys, trays and hotplates from its factory just off the Old Kent Road to customers including the British royal family.

But he said leaving the EU has added to costs and makes selling items abroad more difficult.

“There are loads of things I could’ve been doing if it wasn’t for these problems. We could do things that take us forward, rather than back.”

Protocol talks deadlocked

He added: “A lot more time is spent with things going wrong. The EU really feels like the hardest place in the world to ship things to sometimes.”

His comments come as the UK and EU remain deadlocked over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which covers trade between Great Britain, Northern Ireland and Ireland. The Government has announced plans to introduce a law that could override the Brexit deal

The deal was agreed with the European Union (EU) in 2019 and has been a source of tension since it came into force at the start of 2021.

Fears of trade war with EU

The Guardian newspaper reported that this has sparked business concerns of retaliation from the EU and the threat of a trade war.

This comes as the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Treasury’s economics forecaster, expects Brexit to cost the economy four per cent of GDP over 15 years.

The report adds that some sectors have suffered worse than others with exports of clothing and footwear to the EU are both down by almost 60 per cent compared with 2018.

Foodstuffs, such as meat exports, are down by almost 25 per cent and vegetables and fruit by 40 per cent, while car exports are down by more than a quarter.

For help and advice with related matters, please get in touch with our expert team today.

British leadership in prestigious European research projects have been hit by the continuing row over the Northern Ireland Protocol and trade border with the UK.

As a result, the EU is preventing British scientists from joining the €95 billion (£80 billion) Horizon Europe research funding programme.

The UK bid to join the group as an associate member has been delayed because of the continuing post-Brexit dispute.

What is Horizon Europe?

The European Commission now says UK scientists cannot hold leadership roles because the UK’s membership of the flagship Horizon Europe (HE) funding network has not been ratified.

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, with a budget of €95.5 billion.

It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.

Leadership of Gaia project lost

According to The Guardian newspaper, this has resulted in a Cambridge University scientist losing his coordinating position in the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, which maps the nearly two billion stars in the Milky Way.

Astrophysicist Nicholas Walton has been forced to hand over his leadership role on the scheme because of the continuing row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements.

Dr Walton, a research fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, was the lead in a €2.8 million pan-European Marie Curie Network research project but must now take a back seat.

He is just one of a handful of British physicists approved for a grant from Horizon Europe.

Option of moving to the EU

The newspaper also reported that Carsten Welsch, a physicist at Liverpool University, must either move to the EU or hand over leadership of his research programme to an EU institution.

Dr Walton’s coordinating role came with the opportunity to be part of the European project researching the €1 billion successor to Gaia, Esa’s Voyage 2050 programme.

The business secretary Kwasi Karteng is reportedly reviewing the UK’s membership of Horizon Europe following the EU’s refusal to ratify the deal in December 2020.

For help and advice with Brexit related matters, please get in touch with our expert team today.

The UK Government has announced it will introduce a new law to change the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss insisted the bill would be legal under international law, but the EU has warned it could trigger a trade war and will pursue a legal challenge against the UK if the Government proceeds with its plans.

The deal governs how goods enter Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK and was negotiated by the Government after the Brexit vote in 2019.

The Foreign Secretary told Parliament the move would change the deal rather than scrap it, to resolve “the grave situation in Northern Ireland”.

But Maros Sefcovic, the Vice President of the European Commission hit back and said it would “need to respond with all measures at its disposal” if the UK went ahead with the legislation.

What is the protocol?

• It is designed to protect the Good Friday Agreement by avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.
• The protocol allows goods to move freely between NI and the Republic of Ireland. NI remained in the EU’s single market for goods.
• But NI also stayed in GB’s market too because it is still part of the UK.

What is the Irish Sea border?

• NI’s border with the republic also became the UK’s new border with the EU after Brexit. There needed to be a border somewhere on the island of Ireland because the UK and EU follow different customs rules.
• As a compromise, the UK and EU agreed to a deal that would see customs checks at NI’s ports, creating what is now referred to as the ‘Irish Sea border’.

In October last year, the EU set out its own proposals, which included:

• An 80 per cent reduction in checks on food products arriving in Northern Ireland and halving the amount of paperwork.
• Legislation to allow the trade in medicines between GB and Northern Ireland to continue.
• Relaxing rules so chilled meats, such as sausages, could still be sent across the Irish Sea.

In return, the EU wanted extra safeguards to prevent products from Great Britain crossing into the Republic of Ireland.

The UK rejected this offer, saying it would “worsen the current trading arrangements”.

For help and advice and related matters contact our expert team today.

A recovery in UK exports reported in February by The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has been short-lived, according to a new survey.

It comes as figures from Germany suggest post-Brexit trade between the two countries has dropped sharply.

German-British Chamber of Industry and Commerce members cited logistical problems related to Brexit as the biggest concern in a 2022 business outlook survey.

The latest Exporter Monitor by Coriolis Technologies and the Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT) data also suggest that the number of exporters in the UK fell in April 2022 by 3.1 per cent.

The survey reveals that a total of 61,915 businesses exported in April 2022, with a combined turnover of £4,857,689,565 and 13,302,762 employees.

At the same time, the number of employees working for exporting firms declined, by nearly six per cent, while exporter revenues dropped by nearly four per cent compared to March 2022.

Outlook for trade looks difficult

The outlook for the coming months looks difficult for UK exporters, especially given the current geopolitical situation.

The survey suggests that there could be a mild uptick during May, but the June and July forecasts show that exporter counts will flat line at best. At worst, any May growth will be short-lived.

The Financial Times has also reported that UK trade with Germany has dropped sharply since 2016, lagging behind overall import and export levels in both countries

Data from Destatis, the German office for national statistics, revealed that German exports to the UK fell 3.9 per cent in March compared with February and were down 0.3 per cent on March 2021.

Compared with March 2019, exports to Britain were down 27 per cent, even though Germany’s overall exports grew by 16 per cent, the report said.

Is this because of leaving the single market?

The figures reflect the gradual decoupling of the UK manufacturing economy from the EU single market, said Ulrich Hoppe, Director-General of the German chamber.

“From a German perspective, the UK is to some extent being taken out of EU supply chains . . . because it has become more complex and expensive [to trade with UK] and that has an effect on bilateral trade,” he said.

The UK fell to the bottom of Germany’s top 10 trading partners for both exports and imports, and dropped to 13th place as a source of German imports in 2021.

Mixed confidence levels for UK businesses

Half of the companies surveyed were positive or very positive about their current and expected future performance in the UK, with half planning to increase their investment and to recruit more staff.

However, more respondents expect the UK economy to continue to ‘cool’ in the coming 12 months: 38 per cent expect a worsening performance and only 23 per cent expect it to perform better.

Further delays on border controls at UK ports caused by Brexit have led to some of the country’s biggest ports threatening to sue the Government.

According to the Guardian newspaper, they are considering legal action to recover the costs of building border control posts they fear will never be used, after confirmation that post-Brexit import checks will be delayed for the fourth time.

Brexit Opportunities Minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, announced that after being delayed three times, physical checks on fresh food and plants from the EU, which were due to begin in July, have been pushed back to the end of 2023.

New strategy in the autumn

According to the news website, he announced plans to digitise all checks and paperwork at the border, with a new strategy published in the autumn.

The decision means that the UK will effectively continue to rely on the EU to monitor food and plant safety. Food producers said they were being placed at a disadvantage compared with European competitors who would have less red tape to deal with.

The British Ports Association (BPA), a lobby group for the industry, said it was concerned the expensive border posts, subsidised with nearly £200m from the taxpayer, may never be used.

‘White elephants’ claim

Richard Ballantyne, the BPA’s Chief Executive, said ports had rushed to get infrastructure ready on time: “This announcement is a major policy change, meaning the facilities will effectively become white elephants, wasting millions of pounds of public and private funding”.

Checks on meat were due to start on 1 July and on dairy on 1 September, with all remaining goods including fish and composite foods to be subject to checks from 1 November. A date for controls on live animals has yet to be agreed.

The operator of Eurotunnel, through which a quarter of all trade between the UK and EU passes, welcomed the announcement.

‘Question of fairness’

“We would have had to check more certificates, more declarations, and would not have been able to board trucks which didn’t have the right paperwork to go with the goods,” said John Keefe, director of public affairs at Getlink.

However, the National Farmers’ Union called the move “unacceptable” and said it was another blow for British food producers, as they grapple with soaring costs.

“This is a question of fairness,” said NFU’s President, Minette Batters, calling import controls crucial “to the nation’s biosecurity, animal health and food safety”.

The British Veterinary Association also criticised the move, saying it “flies in the face not only of common sense, but also of the government’s commitment to preserving high levels of animal and human health in the UK”.

For help and advice with Brexit related matters, please get in touch with our expert team today.

Businesses have had to get to grips with many changes to trade with the EU in the post-Brexit era and a new study has suggested that new rules introduced last year have caused a “major shock” to UK-EU trade.

According to the latest LSE Centre for Economic Performance study, imports from the EU to the UK fell by a quarter relative to those from elsewhere in 2021.

The LSE analysed trade patterns of around 1,200 products between the UK and the continent and also found that there had been a “sharp drop” in the number of relationships between UK exporters and EU importers.

The researchers have said that the findings are surprising given the fact that the UK has delayed the introduction of many customs checks on EU goods until this year.

Exports to the EU are recovering, but the study team said that much of this was down to an increase in sales of costly machinery.

When looking at the wider variety of goods sold to the EU, this was in decline by up to 30 per cent, with research suggesting that the administration of the new rules made it less attractive for smaller businesses to sell low-value items in European markets.

Thomas Prayer of the LSE said: “It appears the UK simply stopped selling a lot of products to smaller countries in the EU.”

What new challenges has Brexit created?

Having reviewed the various factors behind the decline in trade, the LSE researchers pointed at three primary factors limiting trade:

• Additional red tape
• New customs controls
• Taxes and tariffs hitting European businesses hard.

Could things get worse for EU-UK trade?

At the moment full border checks have still not been implemented and these remain delayed until July at the moment.

There are already rumours growing that this final set of border checks may be delayed further in the months ahead to support trade and prevent a sudden surge of additional costs and administration.

However, given the main trade barriers appear to be the controls and costs and work involved in checks and red tape there are clear fears about the volume of exports between the UK and EU in future.

Nevertheless, the EU remains a close trading partner with the UK and many opportunities still exist for businesses to enter new markets on the continent with the right support and advice.

The Government has relaxed customs rules for goods heading to Ukraine after aid donations to the embattled country were held up due to Brexit confusion.

The rules have been eased after post-Brexit bureaucracy left lorries with supplies meant for Ukraine stuck at the border in Dover for days.

A report on The Independent news website said organisations sending goods to Ukraine will be able to make oral customs declarations, or a ‘declaration by conduct’, such as passing through a ‘nothing to declare’ green channel.

An oral declaration requires an individual to identify the relevant goods to an HMRC officer.

Goods can bypass electronic system

According to a report, this means goods can now bypass electronic customs declarations which have been blamed for holding up lorries trying to reach Europe.

Other customs formalities, such as needing to notify HMRC when the goods have been exported, were also lifted.

The Government said the rule changes – which will be temporary – will apply to aid being sent to any destinations besides Russia and Belarus.

Provided the goods are not exported to, or through, those two countries, then these simplified processes apply to qualifying goods regardless of the destination “to allow maximum flexibility to get aid to where the need is greatest,” an HMRC statement said.

Electronic customs declaration waived

The move replaces the need to lodge an electronic customs declaration to HMRC through CHIEF or CDS and applies to designated airports and south coast ports in the UK.

Britain’s exit from the EU single market and customs union led to extra paperwork for goods crossing the border between the UK and the EU.

A new electronic system, the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS), was launched in January to facilitate the declarations needed to cross the Channel.

The system has caused big queues on the roads to Dover, according to hauliers, who have complained that even lorries with the right paperwork have been taking 15 minutes to clear the border.

Ensuring humanitarian aid is fast-tracked

Lucy Frazer QC MP, financial secretary to the Treasury, said: “Government advice remains that the best way to help the Ukrainian people is to donate money through the Disasters Emergency Committee or other trusted charities.

“However, we appreciate that people and businesses may still wish to donate aid directly to the region, so this new customs easement will ensure that humanitarian aid is fast-tracked from GB to help those most affected.”

For help and advice with related matters, please get in touch with our expert team today.