Contribution to Joint Statement to Government on Brexit, from the Economy Task Force of the Bristol Women's Commission.
Social Cohesion
UK Shared Prosperity Fund
One of the biggest risks to social cohesion is the complete lack of information about how the EU structural funds are to be replaced, especially those programmes supporting social cohesion and people furthest away from the labour market. These projects are critical to social and economic inclusion, even more so in times of Covid 19. BCC and the LGA are advocating that replacement funding should be aligned with local priorities, tackling inequalities and increased productivity and yet there has been no clarity on whether these priorities will be incorporated, whether EU social fund objectives will be maintained, when the UK Shared Prosperity Fund will be launched, and how consultations will be managed and acted on.
Pre-settled and Settled Application Process
Citizenship status within families is becoming ever more complex with children having different citizenship from each other and therefore potentially different study/travel rights in the future as well as parents having different rights to their children.
The impact on women is especially difficult, especially those with more complex nationality/citizenship rights. Mothers looking after children without 5 years continuous employment may be by default, having to accept pre-settled status. Those women with experience of abuse are the most vulnerable, remaining in violent relationships as they are dependent on their husband’s status and many having no consistent documentation to ensure independent status from their husbands.
Applications for both settled and pre-settled status have seen a sharp fall with the more vulnerable the hardest to reach.
Potential Rise in Hate Crime
Communities are likely to see a rise in hate crime against EU nationals at the beginning of next year. How is government to pre-empt/address the dangers.
Prepared by Diane Bunyan and Sue Cohen
