According to the letter of the law, people who did not meet the deadline to apply for pre-settled status became a PSIC on 1 July 2021, but DWP’s approach (which they encouraged LAs to follow) seems to have been to turn a blind eye for … a couple of months … or maybe longer …
The Home Office can extend the deadline for a settled status application. Once a person has pre-settled status their EEA residence rights are resurrected*, so this claimant could have a right to reside from July 22 onwards subject to meeting the normal conditions (worker etc, or family member of one).
What happens to him in the year in between is all a bit vague I’m afraid: if you are worried about an overpayment between July 2021 and July 2022 nobody really knows what you are expected to do about that. I’d quietly forget about it if I were you.
*There is a rather technical argument about the meaning of the word “continue” in two sets of regulations, but I don’t think anyone in DWP is trying to say that missing the 2021 deadline permanently and irrevocably zapped the person’s EEA rights. Acceptance of a late application gets everything back on track is the recommended approach I think.
