Fact check: What Reform’s ILR policy means for families
Spouses of UK nationals will still have a family visa route (though on revised salary thresholds).
Most spouses affected already have a pathway to British citizenship.
Children of long-term residents will continue to have routes to naturalisation.
EU settled status under the Withdrawal Agreement will not be revoked.
Refugees with genuine claims will be able to apply for protected status.
Nobody in a genuine marriage or family is about to be thrown out of Britain. That must be said clearly at the outset. Spouses of UK nationals will still have family visa routes. Children born here will continue to have paths to citizenship. Refugees with genuine claims will be able to apply for protected status. Reform’s proposals are not about tearing families apart. They are about fixing a system that has spiralled out of control.
Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) was introduced in the 1971 Immigration Act. The idea was straightforward: offer long-term residents certainty of status, allow them to build a life here, and encourage integration without immediately granting citizenship. ILR became a halfway house — not a British passport, but a secure footing in the UK.
Over the years, the scheme expanded. Holders of ILR gained the right to access welfare, student loans, housing support, and the NHS without surcharge. They could bring in family members, and their children would automatically become British citizens. Successive governments treated ILR as a technical matter, never acknowledging the financial implications. What began as a stability measure gradually became a parallel form of settlement with all the entitlements of citizenship, but without the responsibilities.
This is where the law of unintended consequences took hold. Large numbers of migrants who entered on temporary visas converted them into ILR. Many brought dependants. Welfare claims rose. Studies suggest that more than half of ILR households now receive some form of benefits, with data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showing that among the approximately 430,000 households in the UK with ILR status, 213,666 individuals were claiming Universal Credit in July 2025. This does not account for the various other benefits being claimed. The “Boriswave” of 3.8 million arrivals on long-term visas under Johnson’s premiership is projected to leave 800,000 people eligible for ILR between 2026 and 2030. The lifetime cost of that cohort alone is estimated at £234 billion. That figure is greater than four times the defence budget, double the education budget, and twelve times the police budget.
What was supposed to be a gateway to integration has become a fiscal time bomb. Instead of creating stability, ILR has created dependency. Instead of promoting fairness, it has undermined it. British taxpayers are footing the bill for commitments they never voted for.
Reform UK’s position is that the era of ILR must end. Within its first 100 days in government, Reform pledges to abolish ILR, stop new awards, and rescind existing ones. Nobody will be left in limbo. Those currently settled will move onto five-year renewable visas. Renewal will depend on meeting higher salary thresholds, stricter good character tests, and fluent English. These visas will carry no entitlement to welfare. Citizenship will still exist, but the qualifying period will be extended to seven years and applicants will need to demonstrate real integration.
The aim is not to create insecurity for families, but to restore fairness for the taxpayer. Other countries already work this way. Singapore requires permanent residents to renew their status every five years. The UAE ties long-term residency to investment, skills, or exceptional talent. Britain’s model of indefinite settlement without conditions has been the outlier.
By closing ILR, Reform is correcting a historic mistake. It is recognising that what began as a tool for stability has, through decades of drift, become one of the greatest fiscal liabilities in the state. Abolishing ILR is not about punishing genuine families, but about preventing abuse, stopping dependency, and putting British citizens first.