Under the EU Settlement Scheme, we conduct automated checks of certain tax and benefits records held by HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions, where the applicant chooses to provide their National Insurance number. The checks help to provide evidence of the applicant’s residence in the UK and remove or reduce the need for them to submit documentary evidence of this.

The business logic of how the checks calculate the period of residence is available on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-settlement-scheme-uk-tax-and-benefits-records-automated-check

We have also published there the memorandum of understanding with each department, reasons why records may not be found, and guidance on the wide range of other evidence we can use to confirm UK residence.

All applications under the scheme are decided by a caseworker.

EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so. The ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app is an optional aspect of the service which allows applicants to prove their identity remotely using their biometric identity document and an android smartphone device.

The app requires applicants to complete four quick steps – to take a photo of their identity document photo page, read the chip, complete a liveness check and take a photo of themselves using the device camera. The app process can be completed by the applicant alone, or with support from a third party, for example the applicant can choose to take the photo themselves using the front facing camera, or have a third party take the photo using the back camera.

So far, the app has undergone two separate accessibility audits, the first prior to the beta test phase and the second during the testing phase. The app development team have implemented recommendations from both audits, for example enabling users to utilise accessibility tools native to their device. User Research is ongoing, including with users with specific accessibility needs and those at the lower end of the digital inclusion scale.

EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so. The application process is short and user-friendly, and is accessible on any smartphone, tablet or computer with an internet browser, including Apple devices.

The ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app is an optional aspect of the service which allows applicants to prove their identity remotely

The Home Secretary confirmed at the start of April, that Apple will be making the necessary changes and the EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app will be working on their devices by the end of the year

Applicants can also post their document and have it returned immediately up-on inspection or visit one of 50 locations to have their document checked.

If a person wishes to use a family, friend or employer’s Android device until the app is available on Apple then it is perfectly safe and secure for them to do so.

We have engaged with Apple on this issue at Ministerial and Official level, and we are confident that Apple are taking this issue seriously. We will continue to engage with Apple at senior levels to ensure that this issue stays on their priority list and seek further opportunities to work with them on a technical level to ensure that they understand our specific use case.

At present, applicants can attend any of our 13 Chip Checker locations to have their ID document scanned, if they choose to do so. Once the scheme is fully open by 30 March, the app will be optional. There will be over 50 locations across the UK where applicants can have their identity document scanned. Applicants will also be able to post identity documents to the Home Office to be checked and returned quickly.

The Home Office is putting in place measures to ensure that the EU Settle-ment Scheme is streamlined, user-friendly and accessible to all prospective applicants. We attempt to eliminate perceived errors translating special char-acters by using technology to read data direct from the passport Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) – the text at the bottom of a passport and passport chip.

The MRZ does not include special characters such as diacritical marks and neither does the chip in the document. This is in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard for passports that all EU passports adhere to. The ICAO standard provides translation matrices for each marking to the English alphabet. However, in some cases there are options that can be chosen for the same letter with diacritical marks, so transforming the name back to one with diacritical marks can be complex. We feel it is im-portant that a person’s online status should reflect their true name with dia-critical marks, something that does not happen where physical documents are issued.

However, as diacritical marks are not recognised or recorded across govern-ment and other public services (where names are often recorded from the name in the MRZ of the passport), the matching to this data is less affected, though it also depends upon how employers enter the name of the employee.

The beta test phases have provided us with a useful opportunity to prove var-ious elements of the scheme functionality and we continue to refine the han-dling of special characters including how this could apply retrospectively to any applicants who may want their data to be corrected.

EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so.

The scheme opened on a trial basis at the end of August and the second phase of live testing ended on 21 December. In light of the positive progress, we commenced the wider public implementation of the scheme on 21 Janu-ary. The ‘EU Exit: ID Document Check’ app, which is publicly available from the Google Play Store, has had over 100,000 downloads since 15 November when it was made available. Thousands of EU citizens have successfully ap-plied using the ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app since then. The app is free to download, and we do not expect everyone who does so to be a poten-tial applicant.

The beta test phases have provided us with a useful opportunity to prove var-ious elements of the scheme functionality and processes, and we will continue to improve the system before the scheme fully opens by 30 March. Once the system is fully open, there will be over 50 locations across the UK where ap-plicants can have their identity document scanned. Applicants will also be able to post identity documents to the Home Office to be checked and returned quickly.

EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme is a streamlined and user-friendly service which is accessible on any smartphone, tablet or computer using an internet browser.

The ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app – which allows applicants to prove their identity remotely, without sending in their passport or national identity card – requires access to the chip in the applicant’s identity document in order to verify their identity remotely. The app uses Near Field Communication (NFC) to facilitate a secure connection between the app and the chip in the applicants Identity Document. NFC functionality is now available in the vast majority of modern smartphone devices due to the popularity of contactless payments which utilises the same core technology. NFC is a rare feature for tablets and not available on the majority of laptops and desktops.

During this test phase, applicants need to prove their identity by using the ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app, currently only available only on Android phones. The rest of their application can be completed on any computer or mobile device. This is an entirely voluntary test phase and once the system is fully open by 30 March, the app will be optional. There will be over 50 locations across the UK where applicants can have their identity document scanned. Applicants will also be able to post identity documents to the Home Office to be checked and returned quickly.

EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so.

The scheme opened on a trial basis at the end of August and the second phase of live testing ended on 21 December. In light of the positive progress, we commenced the wider public test of the scheme on 21 January.

The beta test phases have provided us with a useful opportunity to prove various elements of the scheme functionality and processes, and we will continue to improve the system before the scheme fully opens by 30 March. The issue you mentioned has been fixed as part of this process.

EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so. The application process is short and user-friendly, and it will be accessible on any smartphone, tablet or computer using internet browsers.

The ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app – which allows applicants to prove their identity remotely, without sending in their passport or national identity card – runs on the Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) operating system and above.

Applicants who do not have access to devices with a compatible operating sys-tem can, if they wish, use a family member or friend’s compatible Android de-vice to access the app, and complete the rest of the process on their own de-vice.

Additionally, we currently have 13 locations where applicants can have their ID document scanned, if they choose to do so. Once the scheme is fully open, by 30 March 2019, there will be over 50 locations across the UK where applicants can have their identity document scanned. Applicants will also be able to post identity documents to the Home Office to be checked and returned quickly.

EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so. The application process is short and user-friendly, and it will be accessible on any smartphone, tablet or computer using internet browsers.

The ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app – which allows applicants to prove their identity remotely, without sending in their passport or national identity card – is currently available only on Android devices. Applicants can, if they wish, use a family member or friend’s Android device to access the app, and complete the rest of the process on their own device.

Additionally, we currently have 13 locations where applicants can have their ID document scanned, if they choose to do so. Once the scheme is fully open, by 30 March 2019, there will be over 50 locations across the UK where applicants can have their identity document scanned. Applicants will also be able to post identity documents to the Home Office to be checked and re-turned quickly.

The Home Office and Apple continue to engage to see if we can provide the equivalent service for those with Apple devices.

We have established user groups to discuss the development of a scheme for EU citizens to apply for settled status. This includes the design of the Rules, guidance and systems; testing them as they are developed; understanding the range of user needs; and our plans for communications about the Scheme to ensure EU citizens understand what they need to do.

We are conscious of the need to ensure the application process is straightforward and accessible, including language needs, particularly of vulnerable groups.

We will be setting out more detail in the coming months.

The Cabinet Office does not hold the figures requested. Individual departments are responsible for ensuring their software/hardware is up to date and removing unpatched, unsupported or out of date software and hardware from their departments and agencies.

The Government does not hold a central inventory of software used by departments. However, the National Cyber Security Centre has encouraged any victims or potential victims of the recent malware incident to contact them directly.