The hub is using strategic legal action to help shape and secure the rights of more than six million EU nationals residing in the UK.
The UK’s exit from the EU created a torrent of new UK legislation and considerable confusion over the effects of the Withdrawal Agreement. EU and European Economic Area (EEA) nationals in the UK were caught in the crossover.
Nationwide research hub
EURBH is a nationwide, legal action research hub led by Professor Charlotte O’Brien, University of York Law School, funded by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Governance After Brexit grant.
The hub is investigating how EU Exit affects the social rights of EU and EEA nationals and their family members in the UK. It is translating that research into expert guidance and advocacy for organisations and legal teams supporting them.
By influencing the direction of strategic litigation, EURBH has helped shape government policy through the courts and improved the legal and economic circumstances of millions of people. For example, EURBH evidence helped persuade the High Court that:
- pre-settled status should not automatically expire after five years
- vulnerable EU nationals should receive welfare support
- more than six million EU nationals in the UK should be protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights
About the project
EURBH set up a specialist advice clinic for the charitable organisations, local councils and legal teams supporting EU nationals across the UK.
The clinic had a dual role, says Professor O’Brien:
It created an opportunity for advice-led research and research-led advice. By working on real cases, the clinic allowed us to capture and analyse evidence of the systemic problems being encountered by the Withdrawal Agreement and identify legal routes to address them.
This then informed our advice, ensuring important test cases had the full panoply of legal expertise at their disposal. It’s such a new area of law that there is no precedent in case law, which means test cases are critical to shaping how provisions are defined.
Research was translated into practical guidance, including a toolkit for worker status and a template of skeleton arguments for people with pre-settled status claiming benefits. The team also created blogs and memos, and hosted a conference that brought together academics, advisors, solicitors, barristers and judges, including the former Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU.
Impact of the project
Professor O’Brien and the EURBH team played an active role in shaping the legal rights held by more than six million people in the UK.
Influencing policy through the courts
EURBH’s support of litigation that set significant precedents delivered public policy impact where legislative engagement alone would not. Professor O’Brien explains:
A number of reasons, including the speed at which cases were arising and also a degree of political intransigence, meant lobbying was not an appropriate route for influencing policy. Instead, strategic litigation proved a vital avenue for legal change.
Key changes include:
- securing permanent residence rights for people with pre-settled status
- securing the protection of the Charter of Fundamental Rights
- securing benefit access for vulnerable EU migrants
- ensuring that EU national women are not treated as ‘forfeiting’ earlier residence rights if events prevent them from returning to work after maternity leave
Securing rights for millions of people
More than six million individuals have benefited from the case law made through litigation supported by EURBH’s research-based advice to organisations supporting EU nationals in the UK.
Liz Connor from the Migrant Centre Northern Ireland, describes the impact on clients:
Support provided by the Hub to help all of our vulnerable clients helped single mothers and parents alike to remain living in Northern Ireland, able to claim benefits, rent homes, and retain their residencies, forever changing the trajectory of their life paths.
Informing frontline advisers
Professor O’Brien and the EURBH team provided advice to frontline advisers on navigating specific cases. They also produced toolkits, templates and explainers, which collectively have been downloaded and shared tens of thousands of times among welfare advisers around the UK. Accessible legal commentaries, in the form of blogs and memos, helped advisers keep on top of fast-changing, complicated points of law, and supported them to use those points.
William Ford from Osborne’s Law, a legal aid solicitor specialising in housing, welfare benefits and public law, says:
There are very few sources of reliable information for practitioners in this area and the Hub has been of considerable practical use, providing commentary on key EU case law, as well as identifying legal arguments that can be pursued in specific cases… This is of enormous benefit to legal practitioners, and it is in my experience rare to have access to academic resources that are of practical assistance in casework.
Video credit: ESRC
Video transcript and on-screen captions are available by watching on YouTube.
Find out more
Visit the EU Rights and Brexit Hub (EURBH) website.
Top image: Credit: VictorHuang, iStock, Getty Images Plus via Getty Images