Brexit proofing your team. Are you ready?

The UK Government announced that following Brexit the Freedom of Movement for EU Nationals will end 31 October 2019. Previously, Theresa May’s Government had said that there would be a transition period until 31 December 2020, during which EU Nationals would be able to come to the UK without a visa for three months at a time.

This announcement has caused some confusion in respect of EU nationals already living and working in the UK. It is, however, important to note that this recent announcement does not materially change the position, just created ambiguity about the deadline.

It has been clarified that even if there is no deal, the intention is that existing EU employees in the UK would still have until December 2020 to apply under the EU Settlement Scheme. However, in order to ensure absolute certainty and prevent any issues occurring when travelling post-Brexit, EU employees are to be encouraged to make their application as soon as possible.

Helping you through the process

Further to the recent announcements on Brexit, we want to give support to multi-site businesses, in particular in London where there is a high density of EU nationals, on obtaining Settled and Pre-Settled status. This will include, but is not be limited to:

• Going on-site and meeting EU workers and ‘holding their hand’ through the application process for Settled and Pre-Settled status (telephone support may also be needed in particular cases). This may include some evening/night work as we will need to work around shifts

• Going on-site to complete workshops/education sessions. We would need to work together to develop any materials to educate managers and team members on the process and what is expected of them

• To track completion and the issuing of Settled and Pre-Settled status applications, where we would do this on a team member basis, with the client providing an overview of all those that need this. The HRBPs would then complete the process with each individual and follow up to ensure that the relevant status has been received

Recent success

Starting on 2 September and after recruiting four HRBPs and a Mobius Project Manager from our associate pool, 1,600 EU Nationals working for a national, multi-site, B2C client were helped through their ‘EU Settlement Scheme Application’. In just five weeks, 87% of those effected colleagues were successful in their application – and the number grows everyday.