Conclusion 26

The current 10-year family or private life pathway is a challenging route to settlement for families who are on it. The route is expensive, and it is easy for people who are trying to comply with the rules to fall off the route. The 10-year route can cause genuine hardship for children affected by it. The changes set out in the Earned Settlement consultation could lead to some people on the current 10-year route having to wait 30 years for settlement. 63 A 30-year route is too long, and the costs of the route would mean that in practice, many people would never achieve settlement. (Conclusion, Paragraph 98)