This book is about a test. The ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test contains 24 multiple- choice questions to be answered over 45 minutes. Applicants must score at least 75 per cent in getting 18 or more correct answers to pass. The test costs £50 and may be re- sat no more than once every seven days until passed. Its original aim and purpose was to test an individual's ability to ‘integrate and to become active citizens’ with ‘a level of knowledge about what it means to be a citizen of modern, democratic Britain’.

The citizenship test matters. Since its launch on 1 November 2005, it has become a requirement for anyone applying for British citizenship – and for ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’ permanent residency since 2007 as well. Over two million tests have been taken since. While a second edition appeared in 2007 under New Labour, this was followed by a third in 2013 under the Tory- led coalition government and there has never been any official consultation or review to consider whether the test is fit for purpose or how well it has achieved its original aims.

This failure of successive governments to take sufficient time to put this together, fact- check information and keep the test handbook up to date has created serious problems that have gone on for too long unnoticed. In 2013, I published what was until this book the only comprehensive report about the ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test across its three editions. My report was the subject of several Parliamentary debates and received global media attention.

What I uncovered was a rushed effort full of errors of fact, inconsistencies and omissions that has got worse after almost a decade later with no clear plan to correct these problems. This is an enormous challenge as it impacts on anyone considering applying for permanent residency or citizenship, and so there are potentially serious long- term consequences for how these individuals are affected – with implications for the kinds of citizens they become. The present risk is that the test does not ensure citizens have integrated, but instead leaves them feeling alienated and disengaged, which is deeply problematic for the UK's democratic health.