What changed between the proposal and the decision

Where This Stands

On 2 November 2026 the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, made a statement to the House of Commons and the government published A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation, numbered CP 1707. It is the outcome of the earned settlement consultation, which ran from 20 November 2025 to 12 February 2026.

The response is a decision about policy. It is not a change to the law:

• Not yet in the Immigration Rules. On 3 November 2026 no statement of changes had been laid to bring it in. The most recent statement of changes was HC 584, laid on 3 September 2026.
• The current rules still apply. The qualifying periods in the Immigration Rules today, mostly 5 years on work and family routes, are the ones used to decide applications made now.
• Timing comes from the Home Secretary, not the document. Answering a question in the Commons, she said: "The changes that have been announced will begin to be laid from the December immigration rules. They will be implemented over the course of 2027." The response itself names no start date for the new pathways.

For the decided model in full, see our guide to earned settlement. This page does one job: it sets what was proposed in 2025 beside what was decided in 2026.

The Proposal and the Decision, Side by Side

The 2025 consultation proposed a baseline of 10 years, adjusted by listed reductions and additions. The 2026 decision keeps 10 years as the starting point but uses fixed pathways instead. Page numbers refer to CP 1707.

What Was Dropped

The response names three ideas that will not go ahead.

• The 15-year path below degree level. The consultation proposed 15 years for many workers in jobs below RQF level 6 (the Regulated Qualifications Framework, where level 6 is roughly a bachelor's degree). The response says: "Workers in occupations below RQF 6 will no longer face the 15-year pathway proposed in the consultation. They will instead qualify through the 10-year pathway" (page 38). In the independent analysis of the consultation, 72% of individuals and 78% of organisations who answered disagreed with the proposed 15-year path for jobs below degree level.
• Volunteering. Respondents raised concerns about safeguarding, checking claims, and the risk of vulnerable people being pressured into unpaid work. The response says: "The Government will therefore not use volunteering to reduce settlement periods" (page 15).
• C1 English. "C1 English will not provide a further reduction in the qualifying period for applicants" (page 17). B2 stays as the required level.

Is This a Points System?

No. This question comes up because several summaries of the 2025 white paper described a "points-based" settlement system. Neither the consultation nor the decision scores anything in points.

• The 2025 proposal was a time adjustment model. A baseline number of years moved up or down against listed factors.
• The 2026 decision removes the adjustment model. Instead there are four fixed pathways. Each one lists what an applicant must have and must not have (Table 1, page 42).

All four pathways also need the mandatory requirements: good character, no criminal record, no government debt, B2 English, the Life in the UK test, and sustained contribution. The response says these "cannot be offset by higher earnings, public service or other positive contributions" (page 4).

People Already in the UK

This was the most asked question about the proposal, and the consultation left it open. The response answers it in general terms on page 37:

"Successive governments have always retained the ability to change the Immigration Rules. The courts have recognised that, unless transitional provisions are made, applications are ordinarily considered under the Immigration Rules in force at the date of settlement decision. Being in the UK does not give someone an automatic right to settle under the rules that existed when they first arrived."

It then names a small number of groups with transitional arrangements, and says on page 38 that these "apply to clearly defined cohorts who were already in the UK before publication of the Immigration White Paper in May 2025. They do not create a wider exemption for everyone already living in the UK."

The named groups are:

• Care workers who entered, or switched into, the care route before the white paper was published in May 2025. They keep a 5-year qualifying period if they meet the £25,000 salary, sponsorship and employment requirements, and the new mandatory requirements, including B2 English and no criminal record. Those who do not meet the requirements can apply for a further 5-year Health and Care visa. See our guide to care workers and earned settlement.
• Health and education workers below degree level on a national pay scale, such as nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants, who came to the UK before May 2025 and meet the requirements of their visa. The response calls this "a one-off arrangement for the existing cohort" (page 40).
• Skilled Workers sponsored before April 2024, who can extend their visas on their current salary terms until 2035 instead of 2030 (page 40). This is about extensions, not about the length of the wait: the response says the qualifying period for these workers is extended to 10 years for roles below RQF 6.

The Home Secretary also said people on the 10-year pathway "will be able to renew their existing, temporary visas until that point."

Some groups stay outside the new framework altogether, including Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa holders, the Armed Forces, Windrush cases, bereaved partners and the EU Settlement Scheme. The response still applies the new criminality rule and the B2 English standard to most of these groups (page 21). The full list is in our earned settlement guide.

What Has Not Been Published

The response leaves several things to a later stage. It says that "Before implementation, the Government will publish further guidance setting out additional technical and operational detail" (page 6). Not yet published:

• Start dates. None for the pathways, the B2 standard under earned settlement, the criminality rule or the closure of Long Residence.
• Long Residence. The route will close, but no closure date and no arrangement for people part-way through 10 years have been published. See our Long Residence guide.
• Public funds. Which benefits count, and the safeguards for vulnerable groups, will be "set out before implementation" (page 14).
• Immigration breaches. The full list "will be set out in the Immigration Rules" (page 9).
• The Highest Talent Group. It is not defined, and the 3-year talent limb is "Subject to review pending MAC report" (the Migration Advisory Committee).
• The £12,571 test. The response describes it as a threshold "for at least three years" on page 11 and as "five of the seven years" on page 12 and in Table 1. It does not explain the difference.
• Leave outside the rules. The government will "set out our approach in due course" (page 20).
• An impact assessment. The Home Secretary said one will be published around the time the rules are laid.

The Numbers Behind It

• Responses. The earned settlement consultation received 204,667 responses: 202,241 from individuals and 2,426 from organisations (page 5). 73% of individual respondents were current visa holders and 18% were British citizens.
• Opinion. In the independent analysis of the consultation, 84% of individuals and 79% of organisations who answered disagreed with the proposed changes. The response notes that respondents chose to take part and "should not be treated as representative of the general public".
• People settling later. The government's central forecast is that 1.9 million people would settle in the UK between 2026 and 2030 if nothing changed, within a range of 1.3 million to 2.2 million. It says over 500,000 of them will now become eligible to settle later, which lowers the central estimate to 1.4 million (Annex A, pages 45 to 47; it excludes the EU Settlement Scheme). These figures describe the forecast, not everyone in the UK.

The English Rule That Is Already Law

One settlement change is already in the Immigration Rules and should not be confused with the decision above. A statement of changes laid on 5 March 2026 raises the English requirement for settlement from B1 to B2 on most routes, including Skilled Worker, Global Talent and Long Residence, for applications made on or after 26 March 2027. Earned settlement repeats B2 as the standard for everyone, but that wider version has not yet been laid.

Settlement Already Granted

Nothing in the response withdraws settlement from people who already hold it. Answering a question in the Commons, the Home Secretary said the government is "not restricting benefits for those with settlement rights". Settlement still lapses on its existing terms, for example after more than 2 continuous years outside the UK, or 5 years for status under the EU Settlement Scheme (4 for Swiss citizens). See our absence rules guide.

Sources

• HM Government, A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation, CP 1707, November 2026, on the GOV.UK earned settlement consultation page. Page numbers on this page are the printed page numbers.
• House of Commons, Home Secretary's statement "Immigration: Earned Settlement" and questions, 2 November 2026, in Hansard.
• IFF Research, Earned Settlement: Public Consultation analysis, published with the response on the same GOV.UK page.
• GOV.UK statement of changes collection, where the rule changes will appear.

Only a person regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority or a solicitor can advise on an individual case. See our guide to getting help with an application.

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