EU Settlement Scheme Data Linking Project

The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) Data Linking Project is an ADR Wales initiative born out of the need to improve the evidence base on EU citizens in Wales who are part of the EU Settlement Scheme.

It aims to anonymously link Home Office data with other data already held within the SAIL Databank, enabling researchers and policymakers to better understand the experiences of EU citizens with Settled Status, and therefore to develop better informed policy and services that address the needs of this potentially vulnerable population.

The data

A crucial element of understanding the experiences of EU citizens with Settled Status in Wales is understanding how their experiences differ from those of the rest of the population. The wealth of de-identified data in the SAIL Databank provides the opportunity to develop a closely matched control group of British citizens with similar characteristics. This could help explore whether or not EU citizens with Settled Status have different experiences to British citizens.

There are many elements researchers within this project aim to explore, including:

• Health (including mental health) of EU citizens in Wales. This data linkage will, for instance, provide an opportunity to compare the health experiences of EU citizens with the rest of the population in Wales.
• Housing conditions of EU citizens in Wales. NGOs in Wales have identified housing as an area where EU citizens are starting to face some issues. Quality of housing links into many other outcomes, such as health and employment, which can affect wellbeing. Being able to anonymously link EU citizen data to housing data would provide an opportunity to compare the housing experiences of EU citizens with the rest of the population in Wales.
• EU citizens’ involvement in the workforce. Understanding trends in the workforce is crucial to help maintain and improve the health of the economy. This research will investigate the experiences of EU citizens in the workforce.
• Educational experiences of EU citizens. As education attainment is such an important predictor of other outcomes, an understanding of the education experiences of EU citizens would be invaluable for supporting them in the future.

What is the potential of this newly linked data?

Combining EU Settlement Scheme data with other datasets will help us gain a better understanding of the experiences and outcomes of EU citizens in Wales, thereby generating better evidence to help inform policies. We hope this research can be expanded to the rest of the UK, and help inform all four countries about the particular needs of EU citizens post-Brexit.

Project details

• Project leads: Prof Stephen Drinkwater, Roehampton University; Kathryn Helliwell, Dr Ffion Lloyd-Williams and Nick Webster, Welsh Government
• Funding amount: £177,053
• Duration: July 2020 – December 2023

You can get in touch with the project team via ad.euss@gov.wales or ad.euss@llyw.cymru.

This project is funded via the ADR UK Strategic Hub Fund, a dedicated fund for commissioning research using newly linked administrative data, in consultation with the former Research Commissioning Board (RCB).

View the Steering Group Terms of Reference.

Group updates

• Steering group update - May 2022
• Stakeholder group update - October 2022
• Steering group update - March 2023