Proposed Earned Settlement: Integration and Volunteering

What Has Been Published, and What Has Not

The 2025 immigration white paper said settlement should be earned by showing sustained good conduct, contribution and integration. The Home Office then published A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, a consultation that ran from 20 November 2025 to 12 February 2026. GOV.UK records it as closed and says the responses are being analysed.

A white paper sets a direction and a consultation asks questions. Neither changes a rule. No government response, no statement of changes to the Immigration Rules and no start date have been published. Everything described on this page is proposed and may change or be dropped. Our guide to where the reform has got to follows the published steps.

One thing worth naming plainly: the consultation does not propose scoring points. It proposes a baseline qualifying period, put at 10 years, which named considerations would shorten or lengthen. Where this site's older guides use the language of points, read them against the published document, which adjusts years.

What the Consultation Puts Under Integration

The consultation sorts its requirements into pillars. Two of the things it lists under integration would be mandatory, and one would reduce the qualifying period.

Mandatory: English at B2

The consultation proposes that an applicant must show English at B2 under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. That level is not only a proposal: a separate, enacted change already raises the settlement English requirement from B1 to B2 from 26 March 2027 on the routes named in the statement of changes HC 1691, laid on 5 March 2026. See our guide to the B2 English requirement. Today the settlement requirement is B1.

Mandatory: the Life in the UK test

The consultation proposes that an applicant must have passed the Life in the UK test, as the current settlement rules already require. One of the consultation questions asks whether integration should instead be assessed through a revised version of that test.

A reduction: English at C1

The one reduction the consultation places under integration is for English above the required level. An applicant with English at C1 would have one year taken off the qualifying period. The consultation asks whether one year is too much, too little or about right.

Community Work and Volunteering

Community involvement does appear in the proposal, but not where the heading suggests. It sits under contribution, alongside earnings and public service work, and it is one of the least settled parts of the document.

The table of reductions lists “applicant has worked in the community (volunteering, etc)” against an adjustment of minus 3 to 5 years. The consultation then asks respondents, in terms, whether giving back to the local community by volunteering should be treated as a contribution that can reduce the qualifying period at all. It also asks organisations that manage volunteers how easy or difficult it would be for applicants to evidence it.

The document defines volunteering broadly: spending time, unpaid, doing something intended to benefit someone other than a close friend or relative, the community, or the environment. It says volunteering can be formal or informal, and that it must be a free choice. It does not name qualifying activities, hours, organisations or documents, because the question of whether the reduction should exist has not been answered.

Two mechanics in the proposal matter for reading that number. Only one reduction would apply to any single application — the largest one — so a community-work reduction would not stack on top of an earnings or public service reduction. And any increase to the baseline would take precedence over a reduction.

How Integration Would Be Assessed

There is no published answer, and no evidence requirement exists to prepare for. The consultation asks how integration should be assessed and offers a list of options for respondents to choose from:

• A formal test, such as a revised Life in the UK test
• Gathered ongoing evidence, such as participation in certified English language education, or employment or volunteering evidence
• A cultural orientation course taken after arriving in the UK
• Character references from public service professionals and British nationals
• Evidence of learning and participation in the wider community, including testimonies from relevant organisations or groups

Those are options in a questionnaire. None of them has been adopted, and this site does not know which, if any, will be.

The Other Proposed Adjustments

Integration is one pillar of several, and reading it alone gives a misleading picture of the proposal. The other reductions the consultation lists are:

• Taxable income above £125,140 in the 3 years before applying — minus 7 years
• Taxable income above £50,270 in the 3 years before applying — minus 5 years
• 5 years in a specified public service occupation — minus 5 years. The consultation says this would be limited to skilled occupations at RQF level 6 or above.
• Permission as the partner, parent or child of a British citizen, meeting the core family requirements — minus 5 years, and not subject to consultation
• Permission on the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route — minus 5 years, and not subject to consultation
• 3 years continuous residence as a Global Talent worker or Innovator Founder — minus 7 years

The proposal also lengthens the period in some cases: receipt of public funds, entering the UK illegally, entering on a visit visa, and overstaying by 6 months or more. Our guides on employment and earnings and public service cover those parts, and the comparison with the current rules sets the proposal against what applies today.

The Rules That Apply Today

An application for settlement made today is decided against the published rules, not against the consultation. Those rules contain no assessment of community involvement, no scoring, and no adjustment for volunteering. They require a qualifying period of continuous residence for the route, English at B1, a Life in the UK test pass, and the suitability requirements. Our guide to the settlement requirements that apply today sets them out, and the GOV.UK settlement page is the source.

Whether anyone already partway through a qualifying period would be covered by the reform is one of the questions the consultation asked, and it is unanswered. This site cannot say which set of rules will apply to any particular person, and does not offer a view on what anyone should do in the meantime.

Where Any Change Would Be Published

• The earned settlement consultation page, where the government response will appear
• The 2025 immigration white paper, which set the direction
• The Immigration Rules and the statements of changes listed alongside them

Questions and answers