The status of EU national warranted officers will remain the same after UK’s departure from the EU with or without a deal, the Federation can confirm.

Due to officers unique employment status, we have been chasing the Home Office to shed some light on the situation in order to put members’ minds at rest.

Although anything EU exit related is subject to last minute changes, the current stance is police officers should be treated the same as all other EU nationals who find themselves in this position.

If a deal is stuck by March 29, regulations will see a ‘national of a member state’ status switch to a ‘British national or EU national with indefinite leave to remain in the UK’ status instead.

However, if the Prime Minister’s deal fails to pass through Parliament - leaving us in a no-deal situation - EU nationals will be able to stay but will have to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme by 31 December 2020.

Recognising the nationality requirement in Regs, a Home Office spokesman said: “The government has always been clear that it highly values the contributions EU citizens make to the social, economic and cultural fabric of the UK and that we want them to stay in the UK.

“That is why the government has confirmed that, in a no deal scenario, EU citizens resident in the UK by 29 March 2019 will be able to stay.

“To achieve this, the UK will continue to run the EU Settlement Scheme for those resident in the UK by 29 March 2019 in a ‘no deal’ scenario. This means that any EU citizen living in the UK by this date will be eligible to apply to the scheme, securing their status in UK law.”

John Apter, the Police Federation of England and Wales’ (PFEW) National Chair, said: “EU officers will have until 31 December 2020 to make an application to the scheme. Until this time, there will be no changes to their current rights and EU citizens will continue to be able to rely on their passport or national identity card if they are asked to evidence their right to reside in the UK.

“We hope this goes someway to reassure our members who have expressed concerns to us. We wouldn’t want them to feel additional worry and stress in the wake of this political uncertainty.”