Campaign group the3million has brought a legal challenge against the Home Office over the removal of some or all rights from people previously granted pre-settled status. According to The Guardian, the case concerns nearly 1,500 EU citizens. The organisation alleges that the department has bypassed safeguards guaranteed by the agreement governing the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
The newspaper reports that legal papers were filed on 6 November 2026 at the High Court in England and Wales. The challenge concerns the Home Office’s policy towards people whose immigration status the department considers to have been granted in error. Some were told that the earlier decision to grant them status had been a mistake.
Dispute over appeal rights and proportionality
Pre-settled status is temporary immigration status granted under the EU Settlement Scheme. In the case reported by The Guardian, the3million is challenging how the Home Office restricts or removes rights associated with status it previously granted.
According to the newspaper’s account of the legal papers, the organisation alleges that the department has bypassed procedural safeguards under the withdrawal agreement, including the right to appeal and an assessment of whether a decision is proportionate. It is seeking a declaration that the policy on status granted in error is incompatible with that agreement or with common law — law developed through court decisions. It also wants the contested parts of the published policy removed.
These are the claimant’s allegations, not findings by a court. Bringing the case does not mean that the court has ruled the Home Office’s actions unlawful.
Not every decision means losing the right to remain entirely
The figure of nearly 1,500 people reported by The Guardian concerns the removal of some or all rights. It should not be read as a count of people deported, nor as evidence that everyone affected has entirely lost the ability to remain in the UK.
The newspaper also reports that, in October 2026, the Home Office accepted that people documenting Italian citizenship acquired by descent — known as jure sanguinis — would be recognised as Italian citizens from birth. The new legal challenge, however, concerns the broader question of whether the contested policy complies with the legal safeguards available to EU citizens.
A Home Office spokesperson told The Guardian that the department could not comment because legal proceedings were ongoing.
