The Government has promised to fix significant glitches that have been reported within its e-VISAs system, which is used by landlords and letting agents to verify the Right to Rent status of prospective tenants.

This system is due to go online-only on December 31st this year, with physical documents no longer being admissible as proof of Right to Rent.

In comments during a parliamentary debate yesterday Home Office minister Seema Malhotra (main image) said her civil servants were working to improve the accuracy, reliability and accessibility of its digital status services, including the View and Prove platform.

This is used by people to view their immigration status and share it with third parties, such as an employer or a landlord.

“This includes proactive work to enhance the service as well as resolving issues reported to us by customers,” she said.

Her comments followed a question by fellow MP and shadow Liberal Democrat Attorney General Ben Maguire about problems with e-Visas in which he alluded to a report by the Open Rights Group.

It was published in September and highlighted key weaknesses with the current system. This included that its digital-only format makes it ifficult for prospective tenants without access to the internet to use; that checks made by the system across multiple and unlinked databases are often inaccurate; and that Right to Rent checks too often cannot be completed because the system has crashed. The report calls the e-VISA system 'broken' and 'hostile'.

“There is no published backup plan in place, no transitional period after the deadline, nor any safety net for people who are unable to comply by the cut-off date at the end of this year,” the report says.

In defence of the reported problems, Malhotra said: “We understand that people may have concerns about proving their status in the absence of a physical document and are conscious in particular of the experiences of the Windrush generation. We are committed to ensuring that all people, including the most vulnerable, are properly supported.”