spacial status for children who came to UK in the sixty's and seventies

there is thousands of children that came to the UK as dependents and still do not have automatic right to permanent residence in UK many of them have lived in this country for over 50 years and if they wish to become British citizens, they have to firstly get permanent residence card that can take over 6 months and then apply to be naturalized, costing in excess of 1000 pounds and pass the life in the UK test,
even tho they have attended schooling in UK and English is the only language they know