UK (Commonwealth Union) – The rapid digitalization of many sectors has not been warmly embraced by many sections of the community. While certain sectors have seen a level of convenience with digitalization, many others have faced severe inconvenience. Discrimination could be a major obstacle for EU citizens seeking to rent properties in the UK as it changed to a digital-only proof of immigration status. This was revealed in a University of York pilot study.
The study authors have called on the authorities and watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Authority, to promptly investigate if changing to the new digital system, introduced post Brexit, violates the Withdrawal Agreement by disfavoring EU citizens. EU citizens who resided in the UK prior to Brexit had to apply for settled or pre-settled status. These EU citizens have only had the ability to receive digital proof permitting them to live and work in the UK and no physical document.
Researchers investigated the discrimination claims by recruiting over 200 landlords to inquire if only having the ability to present digital proof of immigration status resulted in tenants being denied the opportunity to rent properties from private renters. The findings saw that ID status was dominant in landlord’s decisions on who they will like to rent to, over and above factors like ethnicity, gender, age and profession.
An example, was given of a tenant with a non-British sounding name, 20 years old and working in construction had an 87 percent probability of getting selected with a British passport which went down to 13 percent with digital status. “The EU settlement scheme is heavily digitalised and it immediately occurred to us that this meant it was more likely to discriminate against different types of EU citizens such as the elderly and disabled. After hearing anecdotal evidence of EU citizens experiencing difficulties renting in an extremely competitive housing market, we felt a duty to investigate,” said Co-lead author of the study, Professor Joe Tomlinson from York Law School of the University of York.
