My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, whose club of the terriers is growing. There is now a waiting list for applications. I do not know what the criteria is for joining but I wish her well. I can only admire her persistence. She speaks powerfully on this matter, and the Government recognise the continued strength of feeling on it.
As noble Lords have heard, the Government laid legislation on 26 May introducing changes intended to improve access to British citizenship for children who may face issues in paying the application fee, which since 2018 has, as she said, been set at £1,012. These changes include the introduction of a discretionary fee waiver on the basis of affordability, as well as a fee exception for children who are looked after by a local authority. The regulations also maintained the fee at the existing level, to support the continued funding of the borders and migration system. I will come to the numbers on that shortly.
I am glad that the noble Baroness welcomed the changes introduced by the regulations, which, as my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safe and Legal Migration outlined in his Statement of 26 May, the Government believe represent a positive step in better supporting children to obtain citizenship. I am also pleased that these changes are already beginning to have an impact, with the department having now received hundreds of waiver applications since the provision came into effect on 16 June and with the first waiver grants having already been made. The noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, asked how many applications there had been in previous years. I will have to get back to him on that, but I think it is a pleasing outcome.
In engaging on these changes, we have initially focused on reaching out to local authorities to increase awareness of the fee exception for children in care through several channels, including the local government bulletin, the Government Communication Service’s local network and the Local Government Association. We are also engaging directly with local authorities through established channels, as we did for the EU settlement scheme. More broadly, we are reaching out to organisations that work with children through the department’s established stakeholder networks to raise awareness and answer questions on the new provisions. We continue to explore further opportunities for engagement, so I am grateful for the points made.
Engagement will be informed by ongoing monitoring of the take-up of the waiver, which is very important, and the fee exception against forecast, including the rate of applications and grants. We will look at whether there are gaps in the spread of applications across local authority areas, to see where further direct engagement on the fee exception in particular would be beneficial. There are currently no specific plans to report to Parliament on these points, but we are open to providing further updates and will consider the best mechanism for doing this.
The noble Baroness raised concerns about the detail of the policy and supporting process. The paper application form has been developed to align with the online form to ensure consistency in the evidence required from individuals across different application routes. Where possible, we encourage applicants to apply online as it offers a more intuitive and customer-friendly experience, but the paper option is there for those who need it. I take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool, about making it shorter and we are open to feedback.
Caseworking guidance has been developed to support a robust assessment of an individual’s financial circumstances. This ensures that waivers are granted only to those who genuinely need them, thus helping to protect the department’s finances and ensure that publicly funded resources are allocated effectively. It also aligns with the guidance published for other affordability-based waivers offered by the department, ensuring consistency in the test applied across different customer groups. Where it is clear that applicants face issues of affordability—for example, where the individual might face destitution—I assure noble Lords that there will not be an onerous focus on the evidence required.
Regarding the specific question raised about asylum support allowance, it is important to note that this is included as a guide for caseworkers in assessing essential living costs. It is only one part of an assessment to consider whether paying the fee would result in a child’s need not being met.
On the very important question of training, caseworkers undergo specialist training before considering cases, and complex cases can be escalated to caseworking conferences or to senior caseworkers to ensure that consistent and fair decisions are made.
We are, as I said, open to feedback on the guidance and application process, and to considering where appropriate improvements could be made. I hope that the initial figures around the take-up of the waiver will provide some reassurance that it is reaching its intended beneficiaries.
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I also recognise the regret that the noble Baroness expressed about the Home Secretary’s decision to maintain the fee at the existing level of £1,012, and the specific questions that she raised regarding the best interests of children and the link to the funding of the borders and migration system, and I will now address those points.
First, on the questions on the best interests of children, the noble Baroness is aware that these changes were made following a review of the fee, which was
informed by a special assessment against the Home Secretary’s duty under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to have due regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK when exercising immigration and nationality functions. That assessment looked at questions including the degree to which obtaining British citizenship could be said to be in the best interests of children, as well as the fee level. The conclusion of that assessment was that it was clearly in children’s best interests to apply for citizenship if they were eligible and willing to do so, given the specific legal, practical and intangible benefits that accrue to a child as a result of obtaining that status, and for the fee not to pose a practical barrier to such an application. While we do not have any plans to publish the assessment itself, as is usual practice for policy advice of this nature, I hope the noble Baroness is assured by my clear recognition of those points, which are reflected by the steps the department has taken to improve children’s access to citizenship through the introduction of the waiver and exception.
It is important to be clear about the other relevant factors the Home Secretary may take into account in relation to fees, and the balance of considerations that she must make in determining her policy. Those factors are set out in Section 68(9) of the Immigration Act 2014, and include the costs of exercising the function, the benefits that are likely to accrue as a result of a successful application, and the wider costs of exercising other immigration and nationality functions.
As the High Court made clear in its judgment of December 2019, while Section 55 requires that the best interests of children are treated as a primary consideration in the Secretary of State’s decision-making, this is capable of being outweighed by the combined force of other countervailing considerations. It is therefore incumbent on the Secretary of State to consider the relative weight to be given to the different factors involved in determining her fees policy and for her to decide where the balance of those considerations rightly lies.
This brings us on to the second question raised by the noble Baroness, regarding the justification that the level of the fee is necessary to protect the funding of the borders and migration system. As the House knows, it has been government policy over at least the last decade to increase the role that fees play in providing the funding necessary to support the continued effective running of that system, with the ultimate aim of reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer. This has informed the increases that have been applied to various fees over recent years, including those for nationality, in line with the principles set out in the 2014 Act.
Consequently, any decision to reduce specific fees must be considered in terms of its impact on that overall approach, with any resulting reduction in income needing to be met through either increases to other fees to replace that lost revenue or increased reliance on the taxpayer. The department’s assessment is that a reduction in the fee for child citizenship to the cost of processing an application, which is currently estimated at £416—to answer the question of the noble Lord, Lord Paddick—and which many in this House, including the noble Baroness, have argued for, would lead to a
reduction in income in the region of about £25 million. If this income were to be met through other fees instead, it would likely require significant increases to other fees, including those for economic routes that support the UK’s prosperity.
The alternative is a reduction in the funding available to the department. That may in turn have an impact on its key activities, which include ensuring that the UK’s borders are secure from threats and illegal activity, and the effective operation of resettlement schemes to support those in greatest need.
The noble Baroness asked why the option of a fee reduction was not included in the published impact assessment. Final-stage regulatory impact assessments, such as the one laid alongside the regulations, support the appraisal of new primary or secondary legislation by considering the Government’s preferred option against the alternative of not enacting the provisions contained in the legislation. In advance of the final-stage impact assessment, a wider options appraisal is conducted internally to identify and define the options and to support advice to Ministers on prioritisation and choice. I hope I have provided some assurance that the option of a fee reduction was considered as part of that wider appraisal process.
The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, asked about the cost of processing a fee waiver application. The published impact assessment set out that the estimated unit cost for such an application is £177, although I should make it clear that that estimate is just that.
Oh! I do have the figure for the number of children who apply for citizenship each year. The figure I have is 41,071 grants made between April 2019 and March 2020.
I acknowledge the argument that the noble Baroness and others in the House have made on several occasions, that it is inappropriate for nationality to be included in the department’s system of fees and funding. However, it is important to note that the statutory scheme that underpins the setting of fees, which includes both the 2014 Act and the 2016 fees order, which sets a maximum chargeable amount of £1,500 for an application for citizenship registration, was debated and voted on by Parliament, and that the £1,012 fee for child citizenship set in fee regulations in 2018 was therefore in line with Parliament’s intent in establishing that scheme. I know my answer will not satisfy the noble Baroness, who has long registered her objections to this element of the department’s fees framework, but I hope it is recognised that, as the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed, the fees are lawfully set and that our difference amounts to one of politics rather than policy.
In answer to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester on how much income is generated through fees, £1.01 billion was generated from visas, immigration and nationality income and passport fees in 2020-21, which contributed to the cost of running the migration and borders system. That does not include income from the immigration health surcharge.
The right reverend Prelate talked about profit. We do not make a profit from application fees as the income is used to fund other vital areas of the migration and borders system, in line with the principles outlined in the 2014 Act. The full operating expenditure costs of the migration and borders system was £3.4 billion in
2020-21. That includes HM Passport Office, Immigration Enforcement, the international and immigration policy group, Border Force and UKVI.
Notwithstanding that point of disagreement, I hope noble Lords will recognise my argument regarding the complex balance of considerations to be made in determining the department’s fees policy and how this exercise has informed the changes that we are discussing. I suspect the noble Baroness will vote to regret but, in any event, I hope I have laid out clearly the Government’s policy.
I think the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, asked me one other question, which I am searching for and cannot find.